Akatsuki no Hikari
by Arashi-Hikari
Summary: What happens when Hidan finds a surprise at their door step, that will change the lives of the akatsuki members, maybe forever? Konan's mostly responsible for it. Rated T for mostly Hidan's language and other contents.
1. Oh no, Jashin no!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. **

* * *

_Chapter I: Oh no, Jashin No!_

"FUCK!" Screamed Hidan as he ran down the hall, his eyes wide with terror, as if he had just witnessed Tobi removing his mask, which everyone knows it's nearly impossible to catch, since Tobi's Tobi, and he _never _**EVER** takes his mask off. Hell knows why in the world he was screaming all of a sudden, some suspected he had _the time of the month_.

"Could some of you assholes come out here to fucking help me?!" He exclaimed desperately as he stopped at the commons living room and panted heavily from running so much. Curious as to why the religious man was having a fit, the other members revealed themselves into the living room.

"What's your problem, Hidan? Can't we have one day without needing to hear you cuss us out to death?" Complained the irritated Kakuzu. He didn't like to be disturbed, especially at the crucial time of his money-counting routine.

"Save your ass-fucked money count for later, we have a big fucking problem!" He said, his face still flushed from running around like a maniac.

"Well that's no big surprise Hidan, since we seem to _always _have a problem. And it's strange how most of the time it has something to do with you." Sneered Sasori, who was also displeased with being interrupted on his work because of this idiot.

"Will you all shut the fuck up so I can talk?" The religious man sighed as he cleared his throat." Ok, the shit is-" He got cut off by a very, and I mean _very _annoying Tobi.

"Tobi heard Hidan-san shout! Did something happen?" He asked skipping up to the group that was assembled. Hidan shot a glare at him for interrupting.

"Fuck off Tobi; as I was saying-" He started, when a loud yell came from the kitchen area, right beyond the hall Hidan had come from.

"Oh shit." He said, peering behind him at the hall, almost nervous. Many were confused with what was happening.

"What's going on Hidan? Say it already, un!" Deidara urged the silver haired priest. Hidan turned back, glaring slightly at the blond.

"As I was saying, someone dropped a fucking omen by the back door." He said.

There were many questioning faces when he said that. An omen? Hidan sighed in frustration.

"Come along, you might as well fucking see it for yourselves." He told them and headed back to where he had previously come from, or rather, ran from. Seeing no other option, the members followed the religious man to the kitchen area, where they came face to face with a pale faced Pein. Konan, who was holding a couple of blankets that were bundled together in her arms, stood right next to him.

"Leader-sama, were you the one that yelled just a minute ago?" Asked Kisame. Pein turned to them and gave an almost inaudible sigh.

"Yes, unfortunately." Pein told them. Hidan pointed to Konan. "Drop that damn thing or it'll fucking curse you forever!" He shouted.

Konan looked at him blankly.

"No." She said, earning a groan from the silver guy. Kisame blinked.

"What's this all about?" Pein took the liberty to explain that.

"Well, it just so happens that a foolish person left a bundle at our back door." He said, pointing to the blankets in Konan's arms.

"What's the deal? They're just blankets, hm." Said Deidara, not understanding the true gravity of the situation. Sasori sighed at his partner's denseness.

"What he means, Deidara, is that they found a child at the back door." He clarified to the blond. Hidan nodded quickly.

"And that's why we gotta get rid of the fucking thing before it turns our lives into a living hell." He went to reach for the baby, but Konan just growled at him as she pulled the bundle against her some more, in a protective manner.

"So, why are you looking so pale Leader-sama? We could just dump the kid somewhere else." Kisame suggested with a shrug. Pein sighed; if only it were that simple...

"That's the problem. Konan doesn't want to get rid of the kid." He said, and to prove his point, Konan gave a glare at the group as if daring any of them to try and take one step closer to the youngster in her arms. Pein looked around at the members.

"I guess we have no choice. I'm sure Konan won't change her mind on it," That was enforced by a hard stare from the woman. "So we'll have to take turns taking care of it." Immediately Hidan started to protest.

"Why the fuck do **we** need to get involved with the devil?! Let Konan take care of it, she's the one that fucking wants the thing in the first place, not us!" Kakuzu sighed. When will Hidan ever learn to shut his piehole?

"Konan and I have important issues to take care of, if you haven't figured that out yet, Hidan." Pein said with some irritation radiating off his words.

"I don't want to hear any more complaints. Each one of you will take turns caring for the kid. Understood?" He was answered with some yes's and nods from the other members.

"Good." He said before exiting out to his chambers, probably to take some aspirin for his exploding head. Deidara crept closer to Konan.

"Can I take a look at the kid, un?" He asked and she gave a small nod, showing the blond the child that lay inside, the blankets wrapped comfortably around the small body. Deidara instinctively smiled.

"Aww it's so cute, hm!" He said. The baby had a patch of black hair and pale skin. It looked like a porcelain doll almost. Since the child was sleeping there was no way to tell what color of the eyes it had.

"Do you know the gender yet?" Asked the shark, coming over to peer at the child as curiosity sparked his interest.

"It's a girl." Said Konan as she looked at the baby's little face.

"Even worse! She'll bring death to all of us!" Hidan continued to warn. Kakuzu stared at him.

"Hidan, forget that you can't die?" He sighed in dismay of the statement he had just made. It was true, Hidan was immortal, and that just ticked Kakuzu to no end because _he_ was the one who had to put up with his shit most of the time. There were many times like these that Kakuzu wished Hidan's dream of dying were to come true.

"And pigs fly. Quit being such a drama-queen." Said Sasori as he rolled his eyes.

"No child could bring that much of a danger." Hidan shook his head and growled.

"That's what you think! Fucking heathens, seriously." He was angry that none of them were taking him seriously. Deidara then brought up a good point.

"Well, what will be her name? We can't just take care of her and not have a name to call her by you know, hm."

"You're right, we have to think up a name." Said Konan, pursing her lips and trying to find a good name that suited the little girl.

"How about, Saya?" Suggested Kisame.

"Nah, why would we name her 'shell', un?" Said Deidara, and Kisame sulked at his comment.

"Well sorry for trying to help." He grumbled. Tobi jumped in. "Oh oh! Choose Yoshi!" Said the hyper member.

"Only you to suggest such a name. Seriously, _good_? What's the deal with you and the _good _term? Sheesh." Kisame shook his head. At least his had personality.

"Besides, it sounds more like a guy's name than a girl's." Tobi sulked.

"Aww man!" He snapped his fingers and crossed his arms.

"Hmm, hey what about Hina?" Said Sasori this time.

"Wha-no way! We're not gonna name her _doll_, un." Said Deidara right away, almost revolted with the suggestion.

"We should name her Atemi, hm!" It was Sasori's turn to scoff this time.

"And you criticize me? Who in their right mind would think of a name with a meaning such as _blow-_it doesn't sound right either." He added at the end. The blond wasn't pleased with that comment and stuck his tongue out at him.

"Hikari."

Everyone turned to the person who said that. Itachi.

"Huh?" His partner was perplexed that the Uchiha was actually taking part on this. Itachi turned away to read the rest of the scroll he had in hand.

"Name her Hikari." He mumbled out monotonously.

"Hmm..Hikari doesn't sound too bad." Konan said, thinking about it. "Has a nice ring to it; means light and simple and clean."

"Tch, I still prefer Atemi." Deidara grumbled to himself, but even he had to admit that the name was appealing.

"I kind of like that name." Kisame muttered, though he'd much rather have it be Saya.

"Oh!Oh! Tobi likes it too!" Tobi said, jumping up and down nonstop.

"Well, I don't mind it...I suppose we've settled it then. Her name is now Hikari." Sasori said, looking at the sleeping baby once more. Hidan stared at them all, indignant and completely dumbstruck by their behavior. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and just had to get his last words in.

"You're all going to hell; to **hell** I tell you!"


	2. It's not care, is it? Squished!

**Hey, here's the next chapter. I'm sorry I didn't update any sooner, my wrist was sore and I couldn't type much, and also there's school coming up again. Anyways, I will warn that there WILL be pairings later on in the Fanfic.**

**Disclaimer: NO I DON'T OWN NARUTO!**

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_Chapter II: It's not Care, is it? Squished!_

"Who's afraid of the big bad wolf, big bad wolf, big bad wolf~" Tobi merrily sang as he skipped around the hideout. He was feeling happy because it was his turn to take care of little Hikari.

"Finally, I'll be able to play with her!" He said in excitement. He soon reached the baby's room, which was actually in Deidara's room since he insisted on having little Hikari sleep in there, probably some condition he set up with Konan later, since the baby didn't get named what he wanted. Tobi opened the door and poked his head inside. He saw Deidara holding the baby in his arms and rocking her gently. He walked in.

"Senpai, I'm ready to take care of her!" He said. Deidara shot a glare his way.

"Shut up dumbass, she just fell asleep, un." Deidara said and looked down at the sleeping Hikari. Tobi kept his mouth shut, until Deidara decided to give her to him, reluctantly of course. Tobi being Tobi, there's no guarantee of what might happen to the poor infant. Reaching his arms, Tobi was about to get the baby when Deidara pulled him roughly by the collar and came face to face, or face to mask, with him.

"If you so much as get one scratch on her, I'll kill you, hm." He said in a deadly tone before handing Hikari to him. Tobi shook a little, nodding constantly to Deidara after making that threat. Once the blond exited out, Tobi sighed in relief and glanced at the small child. That seemed to get him excited all over again.

"We'll have so much fun Hikari-chan!" He said, conversing with the baby girl. Suddenly, images formed in his mind, of him and Hikari sharing an ice cream, skipping around a field of flowers, but since she couldn't walk he held her; watching a scary movie as Tobi would shake with fear and cling to Hikari and even cover her eyes at the gory parts! The imagination left him as he shook his head.

"Ok! So what do you wanna do?" He asked her. She only blinked at him, giving a baby gurgle. He gasped.

"You're right! We should go annoy Itachi-san! You're so smart Hikari-chan!" He praised the girl and ran off with her to find the Uchiha. This could not end good...

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Itachi was currently looking through the scrolls he owned. The man seemed very concentrated on his work, but unfortunately a knock disrupted him. Sighing, he got up and walked to the door, slowly opening it so that only one of his visible sharingan eyes could be seen from outside. Once he saw who it was he had the urge to run out and drown himself in the nearest lake.

"What do you want Tobi-" Itachi didn't have the time to finish because Tobi barged in like the idiot he was, not caring if the Uchiha was standing right behind the door. The result: A huge red mark on Itachi's face..and a red vein about to pop from his head. Tobi looked at Itachi.

"Why's there a red mark on your face, Itachi-san?" He asked dumbly. The sharingan user looked like he was about to strangle the orange-masked boy, but since he saw the baby in his arms, he had to contain his urges to hurt him. Gritting his teeth, he repeated the question from before, but with some extra emphasis this time.

"**What** do you **want**, Tobi?" The friendly member skipped here and there, making Hikari bounce in his hold.

"Itachi-san! Hikari-hime and I wanna play!"

**SMACK!**

Tobi rubbed the surface of his mask. "Oooww, why d'you slap me?" Itachi glared at him.

"Don't go acting so hyper, you could drop the baby any moment with your carelessness." Tobi pouted, but it was oblivious to Itachi with that mask on.

"Aww. Well! Will you play with us?" Again, Itachi glared.

"I don't play." He said. Tobi whined.

"Oh come on Itachi-san! You gotta know how to play when it's time to take care of little Kari-chan!" Slightly rolling his eyes, Itachi said, "I have a younger brother, remember? I can manage." He turned away from him to go back to his studies.

"But still! You're so…so…" Itachi turned, his sharingan eyes blazing.

"So, **what**?" There was a moment's pause, until Tobi responded. "So...**EMO**."

Wrong answer!

"ACK!" Tobi was sent flying out of the room, hitting the opposite wall.

"Hn." Itachi stood on the doorway holding little Hikari. Slamming the door, he left a dizzy Tobi sprawled on the floor. Once Itachi turned he looked at Hikari in his arms.

"Hmm..." He narrowed his eyes and set her down on his bed, before picking up the scroll and reviewing it again. The baby made a small yapping noise. The Uchiha glanced at her, then back at the scroll. A couple of minutes later she gave another yap. Now, Itachi set the scroll down and picked up the baby, looking at her with slight narrowed eyes.

"What do you want?" He asked calmly. Little Hikari stared at him with big bright onyx eyes, similar to his, but it was bit more of a dark grayish color.

"..." He stood up, still holding the baby and reached across the room for a small hidden box. He carefully set it down on the bed and opened the lock. Inside lay a small weasel plushie. It looked a bit old, but still in good condition. He picked it up and slowly brought it over to the baby's view. His fingers carefully moved to the back of the head and..

**tap**

The head moved a bit to the front in a nod. Hikari blinked at the unknown object, but not long after giggled. Itachi tapped the back of the weasel's head again, twice. Yet again she giggled.

"You seem to like it, huh?" She moved her tiny hands a bit. A small, very small smile formed on Itachi's lips. For the rest of the night, Itachi took care of little Hikari, while Tobi still lay unconscious on the ground, outside at the hall.

* * *

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Guess who? If you guessed Hidan then you're…wrong.

"SHITHEAD, MOVE YOUR FUCKING ASS AWAY!" Now _that's _Hidan. Kakuzu glared at his partner, his body being pressed against the religious man. The thing is, they both tried walking out of the room at the same time, which wasn't a good idea cos they both couldn't get through. So the result was this: them squished together at the doorway.

"MOVE YOUR GODDAMN HAND! IT'S SMACKING MY ASS!" Hidan shouted.

"Don't yell in my ear I'm right beside you, damnit!" Kakuzu retorted, very annoyed with the situation.

"You know what? Fuck you, fuck you and your fucking head that just fucking decided to fucking walk through the damn doorway the same fucking time I was gonna!" He cursed. Feeling his throat already hoarse, Kakuzu didn't comment back. Hidan was pleased with that, and he then relaxed and tried squeezing out of the doorway.

"Argh! No use." He said with a sigh of defeat. Kisame walked by, but then walked backwards and stopped; he stared at the two members, squished.

They stared back.

"…" Kisame blinked a couple of times, as did Kakuzu and Hidan. After a long, **very **long pause, Hidan said, "What the fuck are you staring at, dumbshit? Help us out!" Feeling insulted, Kisame turned his head.

"Hmph!" And walked off. Hidan's left eye twitched.

"That Son ova bitch.." He his whole body shook with anger. Kakuzu rolled his eyes. Silence fell again, that is until...

"FUCK THIS! FUCK IT ALL JASHIN, I'M GETTING THE HELL OUT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!" Hidan reached for his scythe, but it was all the way over at his bed.

"Shit.." Kakuzu smirked. "Idiot." Hidan glared at him.

"Once we're out of here, I'll fucking fuck you up the ass with a stick and there won't be any goddamn person to help you!" Kakuzu went pale and sighed.

"Damn...why me?"

* * *

"Itachi, give me the damn baby!"

"No."

Sasori sighed, frustrated and about to tear his red hair out of his scalpel. It was his turn to take care of Hikari, but Itachi would not give her to him at any cost.

"Where's Tobi anyway? He's supposed to be taking care of her, isn't he?" Itachi shrugged, completely forgetting about the orange masked boy. Sasori scratched his head and finally grunted.

"I give up." He said and walked off. Itachi smirked and looked down at the baby.

"I pawn everybody." He said, a weasel-like grin appearing on his face.


	3. Potion Plus Baby Equals Trouble Part 1

**Yep, LONG time since I've updated ^^; kinda forgot about this story, and I've been oh-so busy with High School T.T Chemistry will kill me. Yeah I know it's short, but I'll try to make it bigger next time. Anyways hope you guys enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or its characters, JUST Hikari, and ocs I might throw in. ;)  
**

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_Chapter III: Potion Plus Baby Equals Trouble - PART I  
_

Konan stayed in her room with Hikari, trying out little outfits she had bought for her last time she was in town. Being a girl, she just couldn't let her lack style at all, even if she was just a baby. After trying over what seemed like a gazillion different baby clothes, she picked one for her to use now, which was a soft baby blue dress, outlined in white linen on the hem of the frilly sleeves and the bottom of the skirts. She had also bought matching white yarn-made shoes. It has been over a month already since Hikari showed up at their doorstep, and it seemed that most members had warmed up to the little Bacchi(1) in the family of assassins; even Hidan seemed to be getting along with her, but still had his complaints of the baby's private and accidental necessities that never seized to disgust him.

"There we go." She said after dressing Hikari. Konan picked her up and headed out of the room towards the kitchen, to grab the little girl a bottle of milk. Upon reaching her destination, Deidara and Sasori were at the table working on their own style of art, but it seemed that they were arguing along the process.

"Dana, why do you insist in proving me wrong, hm?!" Deidara asked, feeling agitated with the subject.

"Because you **are** wrong." The redhead replied in the simplest tone.

"No, **you're** the one who's wrong!" Argued the blonde back, getting irritated with his partner. Why did he always have to criticize his way of making art? His was much better and creative than his! Konan sighed and just ignored the two, going to the refrigerator and grabbing an already made bottle of milk to heat it up in the microwave. Sasori then sighed, pausing on his work and looking up at the blond.

"Let's just stop this pointless trade of words and do what we have to do." He compromised, which pleased Deidara a bit, and instead of continuing the argument he turned his head to acknowledge Konan and the baby.

"Oh, hey Konan-san! How's little Hikari, un?" Konan looked over to him.

"She's fine; I'm just heating up some milk for her." He nodded and walked over, looking down at the heartthrob (not in **that** way…yet) of the gang.

"She is extremely cute, hm. How much you wanna bet she's going to grow up and break hearts?" He grinned at the thought of it. His partner rolled his eyes.

"It's a little too soon to determine that, don't you think?" Dei shrugged and lightly tickled Hikari's cheek, making her give her baby giggle. Deidara chuckled and pulled away, going back to making his clay bomb sculptures. After heated, Konan took out the bottle and placed the tip into the baby's mouth and immediately she started to suck, feeling quite hungry. Konan smiled and was about to make way out of the kitchen, when Tobi came running past with a tube that had some weird bluish liquid in it. Sasori's world seemed to freeze over as he saw the dumb idiot holding that tube with that gooey blue liquid.

"Tobi! Give that back to me you bastard, I told you not to mess with my things!" He growled, jumping up and reaching over for the orange masked member, but he didn't notice a small pool of that blue liquid on the floor that Tobi had already let spill due to his hyperactive self. So, he slipped on it, and pushed Tobi back instead of grabbing him.

"Ack!" He fell backwards, and as he did the tube slipped through his fingers, going high up in the air. It all seemed to go in slow motion from there, but in reality it lasted like five seconds tops. The tube tipped down and the blue liquid spilled down right onto little Hikari's head. Konan yelped, not having enough time to give her coverage. The four adults stood still for what seemed like forever, until a sudden smoke filled around baby Hikari. Konan coughed and let go of her; not that she wanted, but the scent was too strong to contain.

"Oh god…" Sasori mumbled, fretting of what could become of the baby now. The smoke took a good two minutes to begin to clear out, and as it did, they could see a faint silhouette of a figure, a grown person.

"What the hell?" Dei mumbled, squinting his eyes to try and see through the smoke. As the air completely cleared, it soon revealed a woman standing, with long black hair and dark-gray eyes, slightly pale skin complexion and a pretty curvy figure…the odd thing about this woman, however, was that she had a bottle of milk to her lips, and iif that wasn't the worst part, she was completely naked!

* * *

(1) Bacchi - baby ( In Hindi I believe :/)


	4. Potion Plus Baby Equals Trouble Part 2

**Here's part 2 to **_Trouble, Slash, Potion_** and a slightly bigger than the last one. I know I'm sorta rushing through Hikari's growth, but I will put up a poll for you to choose if you want her to remain the same as she is now, or return to being a baby. Enjoy :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or its characters except my own oc Hikari and possible others.**

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_Chapter IV: Potion Plus Baby Equals Trouble - PART II_

"Okay…what just happened?" Konan asked, still staring at the woman in front of her. The other three said nothing. Hikari looked down at herself and felt her heat rise to her face and her arms immediately came up to cover herself as a reflex of embarrassment. Sasori frowned, then glared at Tobi.

"Look at what you've done!" Tobi whimpered and cowered behind Deidara. He growled and pushed him away from him.

"Don't you dare try to take cover behind me, hm!"

"Hey what-" Hidan stopped in his tracks and stared, mouth agape at the nakedness of Hikari.

"Holymotherfuckingshit." He mumbled as a single word, dumbstruck at the sight, and apparently getting a bloody nose too.

"Hidan, this is Hikari, don't be a sicko, un ." Deidara said, rolling his eyes and feeling disgusted by his reaction. The Jashinist immediately choked.

"H-Hikari?! How the hell can this be that little baby brat?" He questioned, even more confused now.

"Tobi was messing with one of my potions and dropped it all on her." Sasori explained, again glaring at the orange faced member. It wasn't long before the rest started piling in, since it was lunch time. Quickly coming to her senses, Konan took her cloak off and placed it around Hikari so she wouldn't be stared at by the others, well at least not in a nasty way, but she did still gain quite a bit of attention.

"Konan, who is this?" Kisame asked, looking at Hikari's face and grinning with sharp teeth.

"Are you blind, shark shit? This is Hikari, the brat!" Hidan answered him, rather dramatically too. At first he wasn't pleased with the nickname, but he soon forgot that when his bright white eyes bugged out.

"What? That's not possible! Hikari's a baby!" He countered. Sasori sighed; he knew trouble was on its way.

"She was, until Tobi spilled a potion on her. Obviously it made her grow into an adult." He explained.

"Tobi, you're a blessing!" Hidan said in glee of what was happening. The rest rolled their eyes. Being religious had no effect on Hidan's hornyness whatsoever, but that wasn't his problem alone.

"I expect you bunch to control yourselves, reminding that this is a temporary state, isn't that right Sasori?" She turned to the redhead.

" Well…" He started, sounding uncertain. That made Konan narrow her eyes.

"Well, **what**?" Sasori sweatdropped at her tone. Why did he have to get the short end of the stick?

"I'm not sure if there's a reverse to it. I haven't created such potion; Tobi probably mixed up a bunch of chemicals and it turned out to have this effect...damn idiot." He explained, grunting the last part.

Konan slapped her forehead and groaned.

"Great, just great." Hikari took the bottle from her lips and placed it on the counter. The members watched her for half a moment and started discusing amongst themselves about what should be done about this. Hikari walked over to the table and sat down on a chair; it seemed that with the growth potion, the side effects had her acquire some advanced behaviors from what a baby of a couple months would have. Deidara finally approached and smiled down at her.

"Hey hime-chan, are you feeling well?" She looked up to him and nodded.

"Good, hm." Sasori stared at Deidara and narrowed his eyes." Don't go doing anything you would regret brat." Deidara turned to him and frowned.

"Geez, I'm not **that** horrible dana, I wouldn't take advantage of her...now Hidan on the other hand..."

"Hey! Bitch come here and I'll fucking sacrifice you!" Deidara rolled his eyes and ignored the silver haired man in fume. At that time Pein, the only one left out on the news, entered the kitchen.

"What is all the yelling about?" He asked, coming through and instantly spotting Hikari. He was quiet for a moment, then turned to the rest.

"Care to explain what's going on?" Konan stepped up, taking the liberty to tell him.

"Yes, well you see we had a little accident with a potion, and it turned little Hikari into a woman." She summarized. Leader raised an eyebrow.

"You mean to say that this girl is...Hikari?" She nodded and he looked back with a look of wonder.' A little unbelievable that she so suddenly grew.' He thought and rubbed his temples.

"Pain-sama, what are we going to do about it?" Sasori asked. Pain looked at him, then glanced back to Hikari. Perhaps something could be savaged out of this. Pein looked back at him.

"Keep her that way, I just thought up something..." Sasori raised an eyebrow. "Thought up something, sir? What exactly?" Pein walked over to Hikari and crouched down to be eye-level with her.

"Hikari-san, would you mind staying like this forever?" She blinked a few times, and seemed to contemplate on it before shaking her head.

"Good, until there is an antidote to your state, you will we helping us out." He stood back up. Konan frowned now, seeming to get what he was trying to do here.

"Sir, how can she help us out if she doesn't even know anything about the shinobi world?" Kisame asked. Pain turned to him.

"That is why each of you will teach her to become one." He revealed. The others tensed, but there wasn't anything they could do against Pain's decision.

Konan looked to Hikari. "Sweetheart, can you speak?" She asked. Hikari pursed her lips, concentrating on how she would make out words. A part of her brain activated a dialect, that she had registered from when she was a baby, and with the potion it seemed to expand.

"Umm, yeah." Her voice spoke, and it was such a sweet tone. The other members blushed, with the exception of a few that were too proud to show the color. Konan gave a smile. 'She's going to give so much trouble, I'm starting to think that Deidara was right...she will break hearts.' She thought.

"Very well, your training will begin as soon as possible." He turned to the others. "It'll be up to you to make sure she learns everything she needs to know." With that said he walked off. Sasori stared down at Hikari; she looked around eighteen or so in appearance.

"Well brat, welcome to the hardcore Akatsuki organization." He ruffled her hair a little, which caused her to give a small giggle. He blushed slightly, still not used to having Hikari as a fully grown woman instead of that cute little baby he used to take care of every once in a while. She was still cute, but because of her appearance, it was staring to become something more than just cute, perhaps pretty? Beautiful? Who knows, only time will tell, really.

"Hikari-chan, we'll do our best to help you out on this, un." Dei said with determination and the others agreed.

"Yeah, it'll be one happy fucked up family for sure." Hidan commented with a smirk, but received as slap in the back of the head from Kakuzu.

"Arg! Damn-" Konan narrowed her eyes at him." Err...darn it all!" He quickly rephrased. Konan nodded in approval.

"Good, you're starting to become more self-controlled."

"Yeah right bit-" A glare from her made him gulp. "Bittersweet person." He grunted. This change in him was humorous for some.

"Umm, mommy?" She called to Konan, who looked at her surprised.

"Mommy you said?" She looked at her and blinked.

"Well, aren't you my mommy?" Konan thought about it, and really, she was the only woman who took care of Hikari, as a mother would have if she wasn't a despicable person to leave the little one at the backdoor, abandoned. Konan smiled now.

"Yes, I'm your mommy I guess." Hikari smiled back. "I'm kinda hungry..."

"So what? Go make some godda-" Kakuzu slapped Hidan. "She just suddenly got out of the diapers, and you expect her to know how to cook?"

Hidan grumbled. "I swear one of these days I'll sacrifice you to Jashin-sama."

"Who's Jashin-sama?" Hikari asked. Hidan's eyes brightened at her curiosity in his god.

"Why, my little siren, I'll be more than glad to explain it to you-"

"Forget it, don't even bother listening to him, trust me." Sasori said, cutting him off and in turn getting a glare from Hidan.

"You're all fucking heathens!"


	5. First Training and Art Topic

**Bigger than the others that's for sure. Wow two updates in one day is that it? Cool! I stayed home today cuz I wasn't feeling well ): Anyways hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to vote on the poll!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, except Hikari and possible ocs.**

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_Chapter V: Short Training + Art Topic_

Itachi sat on his bed, contemplating Hikari's situation. How that potion made her grow, he had no clue, but with Tobi…anything was possible. The moment he set eyes on the little fragile baby, he felt something had touched his heart, or moved around something, as it was more like it. He gave no thought to it until now. His eyes trailed to the box where inside lay the weasel plushie that he used to amuse baby Hikari, but there would be no use for it now; things have changed drastically. According to Pein, they were to contribute to Hikari's training, each one independently, or with their own partners as Konan felt it was best to do. Of course, he expected her to have no ability at all and make many mistakes; he knew some would get mad and frustrated with her slow pace because they weren't used to teaching a _grown up _how to defend herself. This thought conflicted in his mind, though it shouldn't. He should be acting as if he didn't care, like she was a nuisance. However, every time he thought that way the image of her baby self came to mind, and he'd grow mush and soft.

"She's one of a kind, that's for sure." He mumbled, standing up and walking out the door. Who would've thought, that the cold hearted member would have a small gap in his heart, warmed up by Hikari? He made way to Konan's room and knocked. There was some shuffling until the door opened.

"Itachi? Is it time already?" Konan said, a little surprised by how fast time flew by. She was in the middle of teaching Hikari good manners; that with a little addition of fashion accessories.

"Kisame is waiting outside for us." He replied and looked inside for the young lady. Konan sighed, but nodded in understanding.

"Alright, but before you take her let me make this clear," She started and leaned the door closer, so they'd have a more private trade of words.

"Go easy on her. She probably knows nothing about fighting. I know you and Kisame are the most responsible of all the others, but still I ask you to be patient and don't take your frustration on her." She pleaded. The Uchiha guaranteed he wouldn't go hard on her first try, and after that Konan opened the door all the way.

"Alright Hikari-chan, it's time for your first day of training." She announced, trying to sound a bit more cheery.

Hikari stood up and made way towards Itachi. Konan had lent her some clothes, which as standard fit her quite well; a navy blue top, going from the shoulders to her elbows, and one of Konan's black legging-pants connected to low heel shoes. Itachi tried to not pay attention to those details and started leading her outside of the hideout. They walked in silence for the most part. Itachi wasn't one to pull conversation, and Hikari was still getting used to applying the dialect in her mind to actual speech. His dark eyes glanced sideways at her; she was about a head shorter than him. Her way of walking had been pretty much adapted and proper ever since she became an adult, which was a day ago. Plus Konan probably chipped in herself.

"Hikari-san," He started, gaining attention of the girl upon hearing her name.

"This training will not be easy, I don't expect you to get it the first time, but do try your best, understood?" She nodded and looked back ahead as they neared the entrance. Exiting the cave they came to the sunlit day; Kisame was waiting for them under a shaded tree.

"Well, here you are finally." He teased with that shark grin. Itachi didn't find it humorous, but Hikari smiled in return.

"Alright, how do we begin this Itachi-san?" Kisame asked his partner, who surveyed Hikari for a second.

"We should probably go with something simple, such as a clone." Kisame nodded in agreement.

"Good idea. Alright Hikari-san, watch me closely. Afterwards, I want you to repeat what I did." The shark performed hand signs in a slow pace so she could get them, and upon performing them, he released some chakra throughout his body, thus creating a replica of himself.

"See this now? I want you to do the same; create a clone that looks just like you."

"Okay." She answered and repeated the same hand signs Kisame had done, which was good for starters. On the part of creating a clone she did fairly well, but as she had it replicated, it went away as quickly as it appeared.

"Hm, well at least you've got it, you just need to control your chakra to make it last longer." Itachi agreed to that and took a step up.

"Give it one more try." Hikari did it again and this time, she was able to get the clone to stay a little longer.

"Good, you catch up fast." Kisame praised before turning to his partner. "Should we teach her something else?" He asked.

"Yes, perhaps a transformation jutsu." He suggested this time.

"Sounds good." Itachi turned to Hikari. "Watch me." He said and performed some different signs, like Kisame slower than he would, before his appearance changed into Konan. Hikari was perplexed by this, but as soon as Itachi came back to normal she seemed to understand what just took place.

"Your turn." She concentrated and performed the right signs, but the transformation jutsu seemed to have taken another turn, because Hikari didn't change her total appearance. Her hair was now turned into many metal blades and spears. This obviously startled the two members. How could this be?

"How in the world did she manage that?" Kisame whispered, but Itachi couldn't answer; he had no response to it. Hikari looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Did it go wrong?" She asked, but received no reply back. Finally, Itachi came out of his thoughts and walked over to her.

"It's not exactly what we expected, but I think it'll serve well in the future." Hikari grinned and nodded, thinking she had pleased them. Kisame chuckled.

"What a bundle of joy; a mystery within herself." She stopped the transformation and her hair went back to normal.

"We ought to report this to Pain-sama." Kisame alarmed quietly, and Itachi very much thought of doing the same thing.

"Hikari, you are done for now. You can go and do as you please." Hearing that, she turned and ran off into the hideout. The two partners looked at each other indecisively, but they made up their minds and went straight to Leader to tell him the news of this new-found ability of hers.

Hikari walked back into the hideout, only to cross paths with Deidara.

"Hey Hikari-chan! How was your training, un?" He asked as he came up to her.

"It was fun; I learned to do two things." She replied with enthusiasm, though not as much as Tobi would. The blond chuckled and wrapped an arm over her shoulder.

"Great, how about you come with me? I need a partner to bug Sasori-dana with me, hm." Hikari accepted the invite and they both walked to the puppet-master's accommodation.

"Dana, open up, un!" Deidara called while pounding on the redhead's door. Inside, Sasori growled and glared at what was beyond the wooden door.

"It's open brat."

"Oh, hmm." And so the two walked in, Deidara sitting on the bed and Hikari looking around the place. Seeing her there, Sasori paused his work and turned to them.

"Hikari, you here? I thought you'd be training."

"I was, but Ita-chan and Kisa said I could go after doing some stuff."

"What sort of stuff?" He asked, curious as he set down a wrench on his working table.

"Well, I learned how to make a clone, and to do transformation." She said with a nod.

"I see, and have you done them all successfully?" He asked and she shrugged.

"I think so, but Ita-chan and Kisa said they had to report something to daddy." Sasori got his interest perked from this.

"Is that so? Quite odd-did you just say daddy?" He was momentarily distracted by that, as was Deidara who seemed surprised that she'd think of Pein as a father figure; he didn't even take care of her!

"Yeah. Konan's my mommy, and Pein is my daddy. Right?" Well, they couldn't blame her for thinking like that. Since she deemed Konan to be her mother, it was almost a given that she would link Pein with being her father. They looked like a couple.

"Uh, right well..did anything out of the ordinary happen during training?" He questioned again, trying to get back on the previous subject.

"Geez dana, are you interrogating her or what? Un." Sasori glared at the blond.

"Be quiet brat." He shrugged and laid back on the bed. Hikari took a seat at the edge and looked at all the puppets.

"Did you make them?" She asked, receiving a nod from the redhead.

"They look nice…" She commented, which caused both partners to look at her.

"You call _that_ nice? Wait until you see my art, hm. It's the best!" Dei said with a proud smile. Sasori scoffed at him.

"Don't put insignificant ideas into her head."

"I'm not, un! I'm just saying that my art is better."

"No it's not, it's stupid and pointless."

"Hey! Yours have no sense at all! Why keep it _forever _when you can make more later?"

"Whatever, you're acting like a total prima-donna Deidara, quit being a pain in the as-"

"Ah Ah! Remember what Konan said un, no foul language in front of little Hikari." Sasori rolled his eyes.

"She's not a baby anymore brat, she'll learn them one way or another; you know I'm not the only one that cusses around here. You should be nagging Hidan about it." Deidara fumed and glared at him.

"Tch, whatever, hm!" Hikari watched the two bickering, and though she thought it amusing she couldn't help but wonder why they were fighting so much.

"Umm, excuse me-"

"Your art will never reach my max level, un!"

"Hey, I'm-"

"As if yours was ever above **mine**! The only thing you do is mold it into figures and explode them afterwards, for what?!"

This went on and on for a few minutes, with Hikari trying to gain both their attention, but that didn't resolve, so she tried another way…

"Hey! Listen to me!" Her voice boosted loud, which made the two artists stop their argument and look at her, with startled faces. Hikari sighed in relief.

"Thank you, now what was I going to say?" She mumbled, "Ah yes, why do you two fight so much over who's got the best art? Shouldn't it be enough that you like doing it?"

They still remained silent, staring at her with perplexed and doubtful looks.

"Why can't you two get along? Why do you have to fight about your differences? I don't like it when you're yelling at one another..." That statement was actually made them stunned; did they make her upset with their bickering? The two artists looked to one another and sighed.

"Sorry." They both said, and Hikari smiled.

"It's alright, it's not really my place, but I can't let you two fight over a simple difference."

"Actually, you are right, we shouldn't criticize one another's point of view." Sasori comprehended.

"You've grown up too fast, it seemed like yesterday that I held you in my harms and cuddled with ya, hm." Deidara smiled, remembering the good times.

"Deidara, it **was** yesterday, you brain noodle." Deidara blinked.

"Oh! That's right, I knew that." Hikari giggled at him, and the two suddenly started to talk in a hushed tone, causing Sasori to grow curious. They spent five minutes just talking in whispers that Sasori couldn't resist…

"So then, Tobi jumped into the water and got bit by piranhas-"

"What are you two talking about there?" He interrupted.

"Oh just some pranks Tobi tried to do on me, but ended backfiring on him big time, yeah."

"Ah yes, Tobi, the troublemaker." Sasori shook his head.

"That kid is hopeless." Hikari looked at both of them. Feeling her stare, the two looked back over to her. She suddenly smiled, and the two couldn't help but return the sweet gesture.

'Ah Hikari-chan, you'll change everyone's lives for sure, hm.' The blonde thought whilst observing the girl playing with a lock of her hair.


	6. A Day Filled with Awkwardness

**Hey hey hey! Look who's back? I felt a great inspirational urge to update this story, finally! It's been too long man, and I hope you're still following it…enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

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_Chapter VI: A Day Filled with Awkwardness_

"I can't believe it's been two months now since Hikari-chan went from being a baby, to being a total babe!" Sasori smacked his partner upside the head for saying such a thing.

"Do you hear yourself? I think you might be hanging out with Hidan too much." Deidara huffed and crossed his arms.

"No I'm not! I'm just saying that and I don't mean it in a sick way, hm! You have to admit it though, she really is pretty." The puppet master sighed and stared down at the wooden arm he had in his hand. Well, he couldn't deny, the girl did have a nice body-

"Damnit, Deidara!" He growled, trying to shake the dirty thoughts out of his head. Dei blinked at his outburst.

"What did I do, hm?" The redhead brushed it off with a grumble and continued to piece his puppet together. Not too long after, the very person they were talking about showed up, seeming to be looking for something. Sasori and Deidara watched her for a second.

"Um, did you lose something, Hikari-chan?" The blond asked as she kept looking around.

"Huh?" She looked up at them before walking over. "Have you two seen Tobi-chan?" The mere mention of his name had them both narrowing their eyes.

"No, thank god. Why are you looking for that brat?" Sasori inquired and she gave a light shrug.

"Well, we were playing hide and seek, but it's been over an hour since he's been hiding and I can't find him anywhere. I'm tired of playing the game." She sighed. Dei grinned and pulled her to sit next to them on the couch.

"Don't worry, he'll show up soon enough, don't bother looking for him, un." He assured, though in reality he just wanted to screw over with Tobi and have him remain in hiding for as long as possible. That way he won't have to see is annoying mask face and put up with his hyperactive crap.

"Oh, well…what are you two doing?" She asked now, looking at the puppet Sasori was assembling, then at the half molded sculpture of a bird.

"We're making art, hm!" Dei answered, Sasori giving a slight nod to that as he was back in his zone now.

"Really? Can I give it a try, Dei-chan?" Her request made the blond very happy.

"Of course! Let me teach you." He got some more clay and began to instruct her on how to mold it well. Hikari tried, but wasn't as experienced as he was, so she was slow in the making of it. Sasori paused for a second to watch this, a bit irritated that his bratty partner was influencing Hikari's view on art by having her take part on it…maybe he'll pull her aside later and teach her what art **really** is.

"Ano, Dei-chan, how come you have mouths on your hands?" She suddenly asked, curious about them. Deidara looked at his hands and suppressed a grunt. Sometimes he didn't like looking at his hand mouths, because he was teased quite a bit back home.

"Well, they help me make my clay bomb sculptures, hm. They're useful for that." He nodded. Hikari took one of his hands and made a close inspection, until the tongue suddenly came out and licked the tip of her nose. Deidara's eyes widened and he instantly pulled his hand back, feeling his face heat up.

"E-Err sorry about that, Hikari-chan, un." He muttered and looked elsewhere. Hikari blinked, not giving any reaction to being licked by it.

"It's no problem." She said and went back to molding her clay. Her enthusiasm wore off a few minutes after as she couldn't get any good shape, so she gave up and decided to find Tobi again. Once she was gone, Deidara gave a long sigh and shook his head.

"That girl…" Sasori glanced over to him and raised an eyebrow at what he said.

"What's with you? Getting embarrassed like that…you're not starting to get any inappropriate thoughts about her, are you?" Deidara jumped up when he suggested such a thing.

"Of course not, hm! Who do you think I am, Hidan? No, just no." He grumbled and gathered all his things before walking off. Sasori watched him leave and wondered if he had said anything to offend him.

"Tch, whatever. Touchy brat." He mumbled and went back to work.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hikari was checking every room in the hideout for the orange masked member.

"Where could he be hiding?" She mumbled, opening the door that lead to Itachi's room. She walked on in and looked around, even under the bed, but no sign of him.

"Hm." As she stood up, her eye caught sight of a box on the top shelf of Itachi's bookcase. That box looked strangely familiar to her, so she went over and tried to grab it, but it was too high for her to reach. Hikari pursed her lips and looked around, before spotting the chair and bringing it over to the bookcase. She stood on it, and finally got the box down. Hikari set it on the bed as she sat and took off the lid. Inside was a weasel plushie.

"I've seen this before…" She mumbled, frowning while trying to remember where. Just then, the door opened and Itachi came in. He paused when he saw Hikari there, and paled a little when he also noticed her holding the weasel plushie he kept away.

"What are you doing in my room?" He asked, startling her a bit. Hikari looked up at him and quickly put the plushie back into the box.

"I, uh, was looking for Tobi-chan." She said quickly. He closed the door behind him and walked over to her.

"And for that you had to go through my things?" She looked down in shame. "Sorry…" Itachi put the lid back on the box and took it back to the shelf.

"I don't want you snooping around here, especially without my permission, understand?" She flinched slightly and nodded.

"Yes." He put the chair back where it belonged and turned back to her. The look of guilt and shame almost made him soften up, but he couldn't.

"Are you mad at me?" She asked softly. Well, so much for that. Itachi sighed and shook his head.

"No, just don't come into my room when I'm not here, alright?" She looked up and nodded.

"But…I've seen that plushie before." That comment made him pause. She remembered that?

"I used to let you play with it…when you were still a baby." That seemed to trigger her memory and she smiled.

"Oh yeah!" That notion seemed to make her happy for some reason. Itachi didn't understand that, nor why she reacted to some things like she did sometimes, but perhaps it was that potion messing with her.

"Okay well, I better go find Tobi-chan now. Bye Ita-chan!" She said and left his room, just like that. The Uchiha shook his head and sat down on his bed. 'This is becoming a problem…why do I always falter with her? It shouldn't be this way.' He laid back and closed his eyes for a moment.

'I'm letting her get too close to me. I need to distance myself or else…'

* * *

"Come on Kakuzu, can't you make one fucking decent meal?" Hidan complained as he stabbed his fork into a piece of pea, only to have it leap out of his plate. He grunted and pushed the plate away.

"This is shitty-ass food! I can't feed off of some damn peas and mash potatoes that look more like dog shit." Kakuzu twitched and glared at his partner.

"We need to conserve money on groceries. Last month we spent over the average budget for it, and I blame it on **you**." Hidan gave him an indignant look.

"How the hell was it my fucking fault?" The waterfall missing-nin set down his cup of water on the counter and pulled out a long list from his pocket.

"Where should I begin? The amount of cleaning products we had to buy to keep the walls and floors clean of your blood or the amount of hair gel?" Hidan got red and scoffed.

"Bullshit, those things don't cost a lot." But Kakuzu kept going.

"Or maybe I should remind you of the large supply of ribs you got, or maybe the gallons of sake-"

"Alright alright! I get it already." His partner put the list away. "Then don't complain about what you have to eat." Hidan crossed his arms and looked away, sulking.

"But I fucking hate peas."

* * *

"Tobi! Tobi-chan where are you?" Hikari called out, still not having found him. She sighed and opened the door to Konan's room.

"Mommy have you-"She paused. The sight she walked in on was rather odd. Konan, now with a red face, was lying on her bed, covered by bedsheets. Meanwhile, Pein was on top of her and had a look on his face that resembled someone that wanted to die right there.

"Uh…am I interrupting something?" She asked, totally clueless of the situation.

"I um…n-no sweetie!" Konan pushed Pein off and quickly put on her akatsuki cloak; he groaned as he hit the floor. Hikari blinked, completely clueless on what was really going on.

"Let us talk outside, shall we?" Konan said, nervously smiling.

"Yeah, but why's daddy-"Konan cut her off as she pushed her out and closed the door behind.

"Now, what is it that you wanted?" Konan pressed, buttoning up the cloak meanwhile.

"Umm, I can't find Tobi-chan, so I came to ask if you saw him..." She mumbled, still perplexed.

"Oh, is that so? Well I haven't seen him dear. Did you try looking for him where Zetsu would be?" Hikari shook her head. "No."

"Well then, try asking him. He can probably help you." Konan nodded. Hikari stared at her, before slowly nodding back. "Okay, I'll go then."

"Yes, yes, go on. Good luck!" Konan went back into her room and shut the door. The black haired woman raised an eyebrow.

"That was weird…oh well." She shrugged and went off to find her orange faced friend.

* * *

"I couldn't find him." Hikari said as she found Sasori still working in the living room. He looked up when she came in.

"I wouldn't worry about him, Hikari. He'll show up later." He said, earning a nod from the girl as she sat down on the couch. Then, the earlier incident suddenly came back to mind.

"Ano, Saso-chan? Can I ask you something?" The redhead nodded absentmindedly.

"Go ahead."

"Well, earlier today, when I was trying to find Tobi-chan, I went into mommy's room and I saw something weird." She began. Sasori nodded again without thinking much of it.

"And what was that?"

"Daddy was on top of mommy, on her bed."

**SCRATCH**

The puppet now had a serious case of a splinter. Sasori looked at her with eyes almost bulging out. Did he hear that right?

"Hold on, you said Pein was…on top of Konan? On the bed? Is that what you said Hikari?" She nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah. What were they doing?" That next question caught him off guard as he didn't know how to answer that to her. 'Damnit, why do I have to be the one to get the awkward questions!?'

"They um…they were probably going to sleep or something." He thought up quickly.

"But…they sleep together naked?" He coughed a few times at the mention of it. Oh the bad images.

"N-no, I mean! Maybe. Ugh, damn." He rubbed his temples and stood up from the floor, taking a seat next to her.

"Listen kid, when two adults really like each other, and they decide to have some intimate moment with one another…then they get on the bed and-one stays on top of the other. The end." He said. It wasn't as if he could tell her the Birds and Bees story. But his way didn't do a lot of explaining either. There was just no way he could handle being straight forward with her on that topic.

"Okay…and they have to be naked to do that?" Sasori wished she would quit asking about it.

"Yes, sometimes. Alright? You shouldn't think about it, it's Pein's and Konan's business only." He told her and moved back to try and fix the splinter on his puppet. Hikari thought about it for a while. Seeming satisfied, she got up and left, giving great relief to the puppet master.

'Thank god. I don't think I'd be able to handle another round of questions like that. Damn…Konan and Pein huh? Well that doesn't surprise me much.' He shook his head.


	7. The Birds and Bees Talk

**Wow, another update! Yay me! :) Hope you guys like it!  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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_Chapter VII: The Birds and Bees Talk  
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_*UPDATED*  
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"You're telling me she caught Pein-sama and Konan, _doing it_?" Sasori nodded to his partner as they were sitting at the kitchen table. Deidara didn't know how to process that information correctly, but he knew it must've been pretty embarrassing for the two to be walked in on by Hikari.

"She didn't know what they were doing either, and she came to ask me about it." He mumbled, sketching out a puppet on a piece of paper. Deidara blinked when he said this.

"And what did you say, dana?" He paused and glanced at him. Sasori didn't want to say it because it was pretty awkward and he didn't really give the girl the exact explanation to her finding the two on the bed, completely nude.

"Well I…I just said what anyone would've said to a clueless girl…I lied about it." Deidara raised an eyebrow at that; he didn't get it.

"You lied? What do you mean you lied, un?" The puppet master sighed in frustration.

"Don't question me about it anymore; it was bad enough I had to deal with her curiosity alone." But the blond would not have it end there. He needed to know what his partner told Hikari at all cost.

"Oh come on Sasori, tell me what you told her. Come ooooon, hm!" He insisted, getting the redhead irritated. He continued to badger his partner until Sasori finally stood up and slammed his fist on the table.

"Fine I'll tell you! Just shut up already." He grunted, sitting back down. The blond shut his mouth and stared at him, waiting for the redhead to spill it out.

"I told her that, when two people really liked each other, they sometimes decided to get in bed together without clothes…that's about it." Dei gave him a blank stare. Was this guy serious?

"So, you told a grown woman-yeah I know she was a baby a few months ago but still- you told her that they just, laid there naked without doing anything? You think she's that stupid, un?" Sasori's eye twitched and he glared at him.

"Well she seemed to accept it! It's better that she doesn't know what they were really doing, anyway." He went back to drawing his puppet. Deidara pondered that for a while, before he suddenly gasped.

"Wait dana…what if…" Sasori looked back at him. What the hell was he going at now?

"'What if' what, brat?" He asked impatiently; he hated when Deidara delayed whatever he was going to say. He didn't like too much suspense. The bomb artist looked at his partner with a half worried face.

"What if she thinks it's alright to do that with one of us? You know…you just told her that when two people really liked each other-I'm not even sure she understands the concept of love and all that crap, un. So…what if she does that, hm?!" He began to have a little freak out with just the thought that innocent girl getting in bed with a member in there. What if it was Tobi? Kisame?! Oh god, **HIDAN**! Sasori was no longer sketching as his pencil had dropped flat on the table. His face was as pale as it could get, even with his wooden self.

"Shit, you don't think…" He smacked himself in the face. 'Sasori, you idiot!'

"We better find her quick and really explain it to her, un. Before it's too late." The puppeteer nodded and stood up. The two then left to find Hikari. They went to her room first and knocked. No answer. Deidara knocked a couple more times. Still nothing.

"Did she leave or something?" Sasori said nothing and just tried the knob. It was unlocked. They pushed the door open and looked inside. There was no sign of Hikari there, so they went back to searching.

"Maybe we should split up. That way we can cover the rest of the hideout quicker." Sasori suggested, getting a nod from the blond.

"Yeah, you go check the right wing and I'll check the left, hm. The two akatsuki members then went their separate ways to find the black haired woman.

'I hope to god Deidara is wrong in his assumptions. If I find Hikari in that kind of position I…I don't even know what I'll do. Ugh, I hate myself right now.' The redhead shook his head and began to check every single room he came upon.

* * *

Meanwhile, Deidara was doing the same thing on the other side of the hideout.

'Come on Hikari-chan, where the hell are you, un?' He searched top and bottom for that girl, but nothing yet. He opened one room without thinking and paused. Kisame looked over before covering his male thong that had fish prints.

"Hey! Get out you pervert!" Deidara quickly shut the door. "Sorry, un!"

'That'll scar me for life.' He thought with a shudder before moving on. Over half an hour went by and still nothing. Deidara was not only getting frustrated, but more worried as time went by.

'I wonder…should I check Hidan's room? Oh god if she's in there and they're-no. Think positive Deidara, think positive,un!' He coaxed himself and took a long, deep breath.

'Okay, let's do this.' He went off in the direction of the Jashinist's room. It took about five minutes for him to get there, and he stopped right in front of the door. He hesitated, and then gave a knock. There was no answer. He knocked again. No answer.

"Hmm…" He tried the knob, but it was locked. Then, a sound coming from inside startled him. It sounded like a long drawn out moan. His face drained of any color.

'Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god, hm!' He started banging on the door now. "Hidan, open the damn door!" There was some shuffling inside and a yelp, before the door swung open and a very red-faced Hidan stood there, glaring at him.

"What the fuck do you want, blondie?" Dei said nothing and just peered behind him into the room. The bed was empty; no Hikari there, thank the lord. He sighed in relief and pulled back.

"I thought Hikari might be with you, hm." He said, earning a confused look from Hidan.

"Why the hell would she be with me?" He shrugged at that.

"Well, Sasori-dana was telling me how Hikari-chan caught Pein and Konan doing it in bed, and when he went to explain it to her it sounded like she could do the same with-" His eyes widened and quickly slapped his hand over his mouth, which was a bad idea because not long after his hand mouth's tongue licked his lips.

"Ergh!" He pulled away with a scrunched nose of disgust. Hidan though, was just staring at him with a blank face.

"So, the brat caught Pein and Konan fucking, and she hasn't got a fucking clue?" Deidara began to sweat.

"Don't get any sick ideas, Hidan. Remember she was just a baby not too long ago!" He reminded. Hidan rolled his eyes.

"You're a fucking retard." He shut the door on his face. Deidara sweatdropped, but then shook his head.

'He better not try anything, hm.' He thought before he left.

Inside Hidan's room, he was wearing a huge smirk on his face.

'So the hottie doesn't think it's anything sexual, eh? This could be my lucky day!' He almost squealed in his mind. He then opened his door and checked to see that Deidara was gone, before he left his room to find the girl.

* * *

Sasori ran a hand through his red hair; he still wasn't able to locate Hikari.

'Damnit, where is that brat? Maybe Deidara got to her.' He wondered as he walked down a hall. Just as he was passing Itachi's door, it opened up and Hikari came out of it.

"Thanks, Ita-chan!" She said before heading off in the other direction. Sasori blinked.

"Wha-" He rushed over to Itachi. "What was she doing in your room? Why was she thanking you? What did you do?" He asked with some urgency. Itachi looked at him with a straight face.

"She wanted to know if we all really liked her." He answered calmly.

"And, and?" He urged him on. The Uchiha raised a single brow at Sasori's strange behavior.

"I said yes, we did." That was not what the puppet master wanted to hear. Now Hikari would be sure that she could reenact Pein and Konan's moment with anyone!

"Damnit, why did you say that to her?! She'll think it's okay to get in bed with someone now!" Itachi blinked once, but still didn't seem fazed by his outburst.

"If you're referring to her walking in on Leader-sama and Konan, I took care of that." That made Sasori momentarily stop freaking out.

"…What do you mean?" He asked with caution. He couldn't get his hopes up too soon.

"I gave her the birds and bees talk." Sasori had a poker face now.

"And she bought that? You're sure she understands the whole thing?" The Uchiha nodded his head.

'You…stupid…idiot…why didn't you just do that in first place?!' He thought, regretting having to go through this whole damn thing, worrying, getting paranoid, almost losing his mind when he couldn't find the girl. It was all Deidara's fault for hammering the thought of her being in bed with someone like Hidan in his head.

"Well, at least she knows the real thing now. You don't think she'll try to…you know…?" Itachi shook his head.

"As far as I know, she's safe from that." The puppeteer breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good." Seeing as Itachi took care of it, he left to find Deidara.

'I'm gonna kill that blond bastard.'

* * *

Deidara sat down on the couch, feeling exhausted after searching for Hikari 3 hours straight.

"I can't even locate a simple girl in a hideout like this, what kind of shinobi am I, hm?" He shook his head, and then paused when he suddenly saw Hikari come in. Jumping up, he ran over and hugged her to him.

"Hikari-chan!" She blinked in surprise at the sudden crushing hug.

"U-Um, Dei-chan?" He pulled back and checked her over to make sure she was alright.

"Where have you been all this time? I've been looking everywhere for you, un!" She had a clueless look on her face.

"Oh, I didn't know. I was with Ita-chan." That made Deidara freeze in place.

'No, it can't be…'

"A-And what did you to do?" He hesitantly asked, looking as if he was about to pass out.

"We talked about sex." She bluntly answered. Deidara wanted to die right then. Damn Uchiha!

"Hikari, you can't have sex! That is a no-no for you, understand? You…you didn't do it already, did you?" She cocked her head a bit.

"No, Ita-chan said I shouldn't do it until I fall in love." That brought a great few tons of relief to the blond and he sighed.

"Thank god that Uchiha has got some sense." He nodded and wiped a sweat from his forehead. She watched him curiously, before a question popped in her head and she decided to ask.

"Dei-chan, how do you fall in love?" She asked, catching him off guard.

"Fall in love? Well, I don't know, hm." He muttered. "I guess, when you really like a person, and you think you can't live without them, then that's when you know you love them…?" He said, unsure of what he was talking about. The blond never had a chance to crush on anyone, mainly because he was teased a lot because of his hand mouths. So there was no way he could explain to her with confidence how it's like to fall in love with someone else.

"So, if you feel all that, then you're in love with that someone?" She wanted to clarify what he told her. Deidara could do nothing but give a shrug and nod.

"Yeah…I guess, un." He wanted to slap himself. She got that thinking look on her face, before smiling.

"Then I guess I love you." Dei flushed when at her words. Hikari loved him? Was she for real? Maybe she didn't understand it as well as he wished.

"Uh, Hikari I think you're getting mixed up-" He was cut off when she suddenly kissed him. His eyes went the size of saucers, and right then Sasori walked in and paused.

"What the-brat!" He growled and stalked over to them. Deidara quickly pulled way.

"Dana! I swear this is not what it looks like, un!" He began desperately. Sasori glared at him.

"Oh yeah? How do you explain this lip locking I just saw then? I expected Hidan to take advantage of this, but you?!" The blond sweatdropped and looked back to Hikari who was watching them, surprised herself.

"I uh, she got the wrong idea!" He tried to explain, but the puppet master would not hear of it. He had a really pissed off look that could kill.

"Brat, start praying because you won't live after today!" He said. Deidara gasped and quickly ran off. Sasori went after him.

"Come back here, bastard!" Hikari scratched her cheek, not understanding.

"What just happened?" She mumbled, then shrugged it off and left herself to get something to eat.

* * *

"What the hell? Tobi said Hikari was here damnit!" Hidan growled, looking around the dark storage room.

"It's too fucking dark here." He grumbled before going over to the door and turning the knob, but it didn't open. It was locked.

"...No fucking way." He jiggled the knob again and again, tried to pull at it, but nothing.

"Fuck me. Hey!" He started banging on the door, hoping someone outside would hear him.

"Hey! Any of you assholes out there?" Kakuzu stopped walking when he heard his voice and looked at the door.

"...?" The waterfall missing-nin approached the storage door. "Hidan?" The Jashinist paused.

"Kakuzu? Is that you out there?" He asked. Hidan never thought he'd be glad to hear his partner's voice.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kakuzu questioned, being answered with an initial groan.

"I'm fucking locked in, I can't get out! Can you open the door?" His partner paused. Hidan locked in the storage room? And he can't get out? Hmm...

"I don't know, I have to count some money. Maybe I'll come by and get you out later." He said, smirking under his mask. Oh yes, revenge was sweeeeeet~

Hidan paused. Did he just say what he thought he say?

"No, fucking damnit Kakuzu! Get me the fuck out of here now you asshole!" He cursed. Kakuzu glared at the door. Well, he ruined his chance.

"Good luck getting out of there by yourself, idiot." He said before he walked away. Hidan blinked a few times.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait Kakuzu! Don't leave me here please!" He started to bang on the door again.

"Goddamnit you fucking heathen, Jashin will fucking smite you for this, mark my words! Kakuzu!"


	8. The Art of Comprehension

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

_Chapter VIII: The Art of Comprehension_

It's been over five days and Deidara and Sasori were not getting along at all. Deidara was sore for his partner not listening to him when he said the kiss was initiated by Hikari, and Sasori was pissed at Deidara because he thought he had acted it out on horny male impulse. They stopped interacting with each other; no making art together, no arguing about it, no idle conversations about how fucked some of the members were. Zit. Nada. When they did happen to bump into each other, they would just exchange glares and walk off.

"The hell has gotten into those bastards?" Hidan grumbled, figuring something was up by the fourth day of them acting that way. Kakuzu gave a shrug as he counted a stack of money.

"I don't know, and I don't give a damn either." The Jashinist rolled his eyes and began to think up what could possibly be wrong with those two.

'Can't be about that fucking art shit; they argue everyday about it it's like fucking child play to them.' He rubbed his chin. This was nagging him to no end; Hidan didn't like being left out on things, that way he couldn't do his gossip or make any fun of the situation like he usually did. He stopped his train of thought as Deidara walked into the kitchen, feeling thirsty for some drink.

'Well, I better give it a try.' Thought the religious man as he got up and walked over to the blond.

"Hey bitch, what the fuck's up with you and your redhead partner?" He bluntly asked. Just the mention of Sasori made Deidara flinch and glare.

"None of your business. Leave me the hell alone, hm." He replied while getting a carton of milk out of the fridge. Hidan grunted.

"Oh come on! Tell me what happened, something must've cuz you two ain't arguing about your shitty art like usual." Dei's visible eye twitched and he shut the fridge door, rather forcefully.

"Shut up Hidan! Goddamnit, why do you always have to butt into people's business, un? It's annoying." He said before he marched out of there. Blinking, the gray haired man shrugged before noticing the carton of milk on the counter. He stared at it, then opened the lid, and drank right out of it.

* * *

"Hikari-chan, let's play a game!" Tobi said as he skipped over to her. She looked up from a book she was reading.

"I don't feel like playing right now Tobi-chan…" She mumbled. That made the orange masked boy groan and start to whine.

"'Kari-chaaaannn please play with meeeee~!" Hikari pouted, as his boyish voice did not allow for her to concentrate on her reading. Tobi stopped his annoying moans to look down at what the book she had.

"Wha'cha reading?" He asked, turning his head around over to the title on the cover. It read 'The Mysteries of Erotica.'

"Eh? Why you reading a book on sex Hikari-chan?" She gave him a small shrug.

"I found it in mommy's room so I thought I'd read it." Was her reply. Tobi blinked, but she obviously couldn't have seen that. Konan had an erotic book? Odd. Then again…

"Hikari." Someone called her name. Hikari looked over to see Sasori walking up to them.

"I need to have a chat with-"He paused and looked at the book.

"What is that?"

"It's a book Sasori-senpai! Haven't you seen one before?" Tobi questioned, earning a glare from the puppeteer.

"Shut up Tobi. Where did you get it at?" Hikari told him what she told a minute ago. Sasori sighed and shook his head.

'Honestly, Konan should keep those things in some hidden place or something.' He thought.

"Well, I still need to talk to you, in _private_ that is." He said, stressing the word while glancing sideways to Tobi. The hyper member saluted him before heading off to do whatever. Sasori then sat down next to Hikari on her bed.

"Listen, I want you to tell me what happened a few days ago with you and Deidara." He started off. The black haired woman blinked, but nodded all the same.

"Okay, what about it?" It took a moment for Sasori to form the question right.

"When I saw you two kiss…who was it that initiated it? Was it him?" To that she shook her head.

"No Saso-chan, I kissed him." His eyes widened a slight bit, but he knew that that might've been possible. However, the fact that she confirmed it made him feel stupid for not listening to his partner in the first place.

"But why? Why did you do that?" She tapped her chin as she thought on the reason behind it.

"Hmm…well I think it was because of all that love talk I got from Itachi-chan. You know you love someone when you can't live without them and stuff like that right? So, I feel that way about everyone, and since Dei-chan was there, I was trying to show it to him." She explained. Sasori blankly stared at her.

'Itachi, you clearly didn't do a fabulous job at clearing everything up. Damn Uchiha.' He thought before sighing.

"Listen, that's not how it works. There are different types of love one person can feel." He told her, but he felt quite odd doing it. He was a puppet with a beating heart, but not as if he could feel anything. He remembered a little about his love for his parents and grandmother, but it was soon replaced by simple memories when he decided to transform himself. So, giving Hikari a lecture about love seemed rather farfetched and stupid to him, but he just had to give it a try.

"What other types are there?" She asked, bringing him back to the conversation.

"Well, there's family love, in which you usually share with your parents and other relatives. There's no sexual involvement in that." He added in the end, just to be safe. The girl nodded her head.

"Then, there's friendly love, something you would probably have for your friends." Sasori continued, always earning a nod of understanding from her.

"And finally, there's intimate love, which you probably confused it with the friendly one when you decided to kiss Deidara." He said, slightly grumbling in the end. It still was a shock for him every time he thought about the scene he walked in on a couple of days ago.

"How does intimate love work?" She asked, catching him off guard. Now, how the hell was he supposed to explain that to her without giving her any incentive?

"Erm…intimate love is like, you have the desire to spend time with that one special person, and you want to do things you wouldn't do in the other types of love I've mentioned…such as sex…" He muttered quietly in the end. Hikari stared at him.

"So…how do I know if I have that intimate kind of love?" The puppeteer wanted to smack himself. Of course she was going to keep asking about it!

"I don't really know since I've never been in love like that. But really Hikari, you shouldn't worry about that right now. You're still young and…well let's just leave it at that." She pouted a little, but didn't push the matter since she knew he could get temperamental if annoyed.

"So, did that clear things up a bit for you?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks Saso-chan." She smiled. He almost smiled back before leaving her room. Now that he set that straight, he had to go do something he hated doing, and that was apologizing to a certain blond partner.

* * *

Deidara was sulking in his bed, staring up at the ceiling of his bedroom.

'Stupid Hidan. Can't give anybody any peace. Hm.' He turned over his stomach and let his mind drift off to the kiss Hikari had given him. It had come as a total shock for him, but he couldn't deny the fact that he had enjoyed it.

'Ugh, you're sick Deidara, thinking of her like that. God she was just a baby a few months ago, un!' He thought, lightly bonking his head and sighing.

'I guess I kind of did deserve being scolded and almost killed by Sasori-dana. I mean, if I felt that way about the kiss, then hell I might be just like Hidan.' He sweatdropped, greatly disliking the thought of having anything in common with that crazy Jashinist. He was brought back to reality when a knock came to his door.

"Hold on, un." He said before getting up, and heading over to it. When he opened up, he instantly glared. Sasori stared at him, but did not glare back, and that made him drop his.

"What do you want, hm?" He asked with a tone of being irritated. Sasori grunted and pushed past him and into the room. Deidara blinked before grumbling some things under his breath and closing the door.

"What makes you think you can just come in like that, hm?" He asked, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at the readhead. Sasori merely glanced over to his clay sculptures before turning to the blond.

"I talked things out with Hikari and…you were right." The blond raised an eyebrow. Could it be? Was Sasori admitting that he was wrong? For the first time **ever**?

"Oh did you now? I've been telling you all along dana, but you wouldn't listen, un!" He said, acting offended still.

"Don't be a drama-queen," Sasori grunted. "You can't blame me for thinking the way I did when I walked in on that. I mean, Hikari's innocent and doesn't know much about relationships and crap like that." Deidara uncrossed his arms and sighed. That was true.

"Yeah I guess…but still you didn't have to chase me around the entire goddamn hideout trying to kill me for it." His partner shrugged at that.

"I wasn't really going to kill you…just hurt you badly." The blond rolled his eyes.

"Yeah ok, well at least you can stop giving me death glares and all that now, right?" He nodded as he already started heading towards the door.

"Right, and I'll go back to trying to make you realize that your view in art is wrong while mine is right, as normal." The blond scoffed at that.

"Yeah right, keep dreaming! My art is much better than yours, hm!"

"As if, brat." Was Sasori's reply before he left the room. Deidara grumbled and took a seat on his bed, a smirk almost crossing his face.

'So things are back to normal, thank god, hm.'

Unknown to him, walls sometimes had ears, and sometimes they had someone that could morph through them to eavesdrop on people. Zetsu smirked to himself after hearing the two's conversation.

'It'll be interesting to see what Pein does after we tell him this piece of info.' The black side commented telepathically to his other half.

'I have a feeling he won't react well to this.' The white side said, before they morphed away.

* * *

The following morning, Deidara and Sasori were back to normal in relationship-wise, and Hidan was dying of curiosity still, as he had not figured out what the hell set them off in the first place; and now they're back to being buddy-buddies? What the hell was up with that?

"Damnit, I should have a fucking pupil to figure shit out for me." He mumbled as he ate some crappy oatmeal. The blond and redhead were in a mild dispute about whose view on art was better, which was of course normal for them. Hikari would look back and forth between the two as they traded insults on their abilities.

'I don't get it. Art sounds complicated.' She thought, shaking her head and eating some grapes from her plate. The only other people at the table were Konan, Tobi and Kikuyu, since Kismet and Itachi were given a mission to do yesterday. Konan usually ignored everyone, but the glee of having Hikari around was that she could have girl-talk, or 'mother to daughter' chats to occupy her. Having been the only woman in the organization prior to the black haired girl made life as boring and tedious as it got when living under the same roof with a bunch of men. It was especially irritating in those times of the month. As the two women engaged in a conversation about cats, Pein walked in, but he looked rather serious. That was usually a sign that he meant business.

"Sasori and Deidara, I need to have a word with you two…in my office." He said, straight to the point before he turned and left. The two artists had stopped arguing and looked at one another. Had they done something wrong?

'I didn't like the tone of his voice.' Sasori thought. Deidara didn't really think much of it, figuring it might be something about a mission or anything of that sort. Meanwhile, Hidan was getting excited again as he smirked a little.

'This is my chance to fucking find something out around here. I'm bored as hell with not having any news to bullshit about.'

"Pooh, Deidara-senpai and Sasori-senpai are in trouubleeee~" Tobi sang out. Deidara glared and threw a piece of bread at him.

"Ack!" Tobi fell off his chair when he was hit, powerfully so, square in the mask. Dei huffed and ignored Kakuzu's subtle complaints about wasting food. Sasori almost had the same idea, but he kept himself level-headed as he preoccupied himself with thinking what Pein might want with them.

'As far as I know, we've done our missions well up to now. Did something happen?' He wondered before standing up. Deidara followed suit and they both headed off to Pein's office.

Once they got there, they were asked to approach his desk as he stared at them intently with his rinnegan eyes.

"I've been told that you, Deidara, had a moment with Hikari in which you two kissed. Is that right?" He asked, but it sounded more like a demand. Deidara gulped a bit; who the hell ratted him out?

"Uh, yes sir—but it was an accident un!" He said instantly. He didn't seem to buy that though and Sasori shook his head.

"Let me make this clear to you both, since I also know that you've been giving her some odd ideas about love and what not, Sasori." The leader said to the redhead, before proceeding on.

"I don't want to hear any talk about relationships, love, or anything of that sort. I especially want Hikari to be ignorant of such things because the last thing I want is a fatal mishap in this organization. Is that understood?" Both nodded their heads to that, before they were dismissed.

"Who the hell told on us, hm?" Deidara was really hating that person right now. Sasori thought for a moment before looking ahead.

"It was probably Zetsu. He's the one who usually reports things to Pein." Deidara turned his hands into fists.

"That green black and white faced bastard! He's weird enough the way he is, but to tell on us like that, what an ass!" As Deidara complained, Sasori couldn't help but wonder about what Pein said. So he didn't want Hikari too close to anyone; was he concerned about her physical performance in the trainings she's been having with the members thus far? Or did he have other plans for the girl? Whatever the reason, he did not have a good vibe about it.


	9. Defense Training and the Cookie Jar

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just my OC Hikari.**

* * *

_Chapter IX: Defense Training and the Cookie Jar_

Hikari hummed to herself as she lay sprawled on Itachi's bed, staring up at the ceiling and thinking of nothing in particular. The Uchiha was reading a scroll, completely unfazed by the fact that the black haired woman was taking up space on his bed. He tried concentrating on what he was reading, but her humming often distracted him and caused him to lose his place. At first he was going to call her off on it, but on second thought, he actually liked her humming. It was oddly….soothing to the young man.

'I'm letting myself be affected by her again. Why can't I just brush it off?' He thought, frowning slightly as he did not dare let his eyes drift over to where she was, or else he might not look away afterward. This idea had bothered him for a good while now, how he just let her get to him so easily. As a coldblooded Uchiha, responsible for the death of his entire clan minus his little brother, he was not supposed to have any kind of weaknesses or falters. But no matter what, when Hikari was around he just couldn't be fully uncaring and cold with her, he just couldn't…in a way she reminded him of the young Sasuke.

'Stop thinking about such things Itachi, it won't do you any good.' He mentally told himself, giving a slight shake of his head before giving an inaudible sigh. She might as well be the death of him…

"Itachi-san, what time is it?" Hikari asked in a half murmur, interrupting his thinking process. He looked over to her from his desk.

"Should be close to noon." He answered as plain as he possibly could, and almost jumped when she suddenly sat up with a gasp.

"Oh no, I'm late!" She said before scrambling to her feet and running out the door.

"Late for wha-" He paused as she had already left the room, leaving him a bit confused and staring at the door.

* * *

Hikari swerved at every corner she got to and zoomed past many halls of the hideout before finally getting down to the main entrance, gasping for breath. The sound of laughter soon ensued when she arrived in that state.

"Seems like someone lost track of time, un." Said Deidara in a cheery tone, though it had a small edge of apprehension since his partner was not in the least bit sharing his humor.

"S-Sorry Sasori and Deidara senpai. I really just…forgot." She said with a sweatdrop before hanging her head in shame. Sasori made a 'tch' noise before shaking his head.

"Don't let this happen again, this is your first and last warning Hikari." He warned her, and the black haired girl looked up and nodded.

"Of course." The redhead then turned around and headed off, with his partner in toe and Hikari close behind them. They reached their usual training area at a clearing in the middle of the forest.

"Well then, we'll pick up from where we left off. Pein-sama wants you to work on your defense as much as possible." Sasori stated as he stared at the young woman whose full attention was on him now.

"You will have a one on one combat fight with me, and then Deidara. In addition, we have placed a few traps-some mines involved too- so you better beware on where you step or you might come out of this training exercise without a limb…or two." Maybe he was going a bit too far, but he felt he needed to be plain and somewhat harsh on the girl so she wouldn't take this lightly and more so be prepared for anything in the future. Part of being in Akatsuki was fending for yourself and being prepared for the risks and dangers that lay ahead of you; Hikari would have no exemption from experiencing such moments.

"I didn't want to overdo it, so my mine bombs were made from the lowest rank possible so the explosion won't be too severe, hm." Deidara added in, because unlike Sasori he felt that it wasn't fair for a young rookie like Hikari, who just started training with them a little over a month ago with no prior knowledge, to be placed under such rash and harmful circumstances just yet. He just hoped Sasori's little traps did not meet his intimidating words fully or else she'd be in trouble.

"I'll do my best." Was her response to that. Sasori, huffing a little at Deidara's sensitivity toward her, stared at her with clear authority.

"You will have exactly 20 minutes to go up against us, and after that we will move to something else. Are you ready?" She nodded, giving him a thumbs up.

"Very well, you may begin…now!" The minute he said that, Hikari made hand signs and created five clones as they then dashed across the field. Two clones had already activated a mine or two, so now it was down to three clones and the real Hikari. She sped up, and made some more clones as she moved so they could activate the other mines that lay ahead of her, basically taking the hit in her place and making a clear path for her.

"You gotta admit dana, that was pretty clever of her, hm." The blond muttered to his partner as he watched Hikari move along, her clones continuing to get caught by the traps.

"Yes well, let's see how long that lasts." He said in turn, as he slowly brought up his hand and gave a twitch from one of his fingers.

Hikari was nearly halfway to them when she suddenly stopped as the earth cracked in front of her and out came one of Sasori's puppets. It threw a few senbon needles at her, to which she ducked to dodge it. It attempted to make a grab for her, its wooden arms having blades embedded along the lengths. She did a back flip and made some quick hand signs, parts of her hair turning into blades that she then charged at the puppet and sliced right through it. The sections that had been cut fell limp to the floor, and she advanced.

'I'm nearly there.' She thought, now ¾ of a way, but she had accidentally stepped into a trap –luckily not a mine- and had to think fast, flipping herself into the air and just over the bear trap that came up from the ground, its sharp teeth almost piercing one of her legs. She had no time to recover from that as she used some of her chakra, channeling it to her feet so she could run even faster. The clones she kept making had pretty much set off all of Deidara's mines, leaving the way free. Hikari did not underestimate Sasori's trap though, because she knew the puppet master was more 'inventive' and challenging about it.

'I can do this, I'll prove to them I can make it.' She thought with determination. Finally coming in close range of them, she aimed one of her hair blades at Sasori, who instantly jumped back to avoid it. Deidara stepped out of the way to let them battle out before his turn came. She had a bit of a hard time with Sasori, because he had suddenly jumped into his puppet Hiruko which he had summoned out while she was distracted by the traps before. Now, this puppet was one of his favorites for a reason, and though it looked heavy anyone who had underestimated it before ended up dead. Sasori swished Hiruko's sharp tail at her, one she almost wasn't able to avoid because he had been so fast with striking it.

'That tail is a problem, either I avoid it or cut it off…which probably would piss Sasori senpai…' She mulled over that thought as she continued to just dodge and parry his tail with her hair blades, before finally coming to the conclusion that she had to treat this as if it was a real fight, so as far as she knew, all was fair…except killing, she hoped.

'This is getting too predictable; I have to push her a little.' The redhead thought as he made a motion of his hand inside his puppet, and Hiruko's jaw went down to shoot needles at her. Her eyes widened a bit and she did a couple of somersaults, most barely nicking her skin, but a few had managed to scratch at her arm and leg.

'It's a good thing I chose against using poison.' He thought as he launched his scorpion tail at her again. She stopped the tail with her hair blades and then made it so they held it in place.

'Alright, here goes nothing.' She thought. Making quick hand signs and extending the length of her hair, she managed to flip over the tail being held by the blades before releasing them and aiming at the base. Yes, Sasori's tail was made of very durable material, but by adding some chakra to her blades she managed to make a clean cut through it. The tail fell with a thump that caused some debris from the ground to rise from the impact.

"Tch." Sasori was indeed not pleased about that, but at least she was able to break through one of his puppet's defenses, which was a plus.

"Fine, I'm done here. Deidara?" He called out, the blond smirking and already having made a few clay bombs.

"Already on it, un." Hikari turned her attention to the blond now seeing as Sasori appeared to have 'surrendered'. Deidara then threw those clay bombs at her and made hand signs. They came to life and the tiny clay birds launched themselves at Hikari. She had little time to do anything but dodge them as they collided on the ground near her and exploded. She tried to put as much distance between her and Dei as possible for the meantime.

'Okay, if I keep it like this Deidara-senpai has the advantage. So, I have to get close to him somehow while avoiding those clay birds of his.' She figured, trying to calculate her steps on this, but she didn't yet have a pro's skills to strategize completely. Right now she went with her plan of just trying to get close enough to the blond to get a clear hit.

"Come on Hikari-chan, don't keep me waiting here, un!" He urged with a smirk. He might've sounded a little mocking saying that, but he wanted to take off the tense edge of this training; he was the complete polar opposite of Sasori, more playful in other words.

Hikari decided on making three clones of herself and have them go at him as she followed behind; at least this way she could have them deal with some of the clay birds charging while she attempted to get at Deidara. It was fast, but it worked. She jumped over one clone just before it poofed away and aimed a punch at Deidara's face. He caught her fist just in time and he brought his own to strike her, but she twisted her body, using the support of his hand holding tight to her fist to launch herself up over him, but it didn't stop there. She wrapped her legs around his head and bent her body back. With her hands on the ground, she summoned enough strength to haul him off the ground and slam him right back on it on the opposite side. Her legs gave out as she now straddled his waist with a kunai held up to his neck. He blinked a few times, trying to register what just happened.

"Damn, you really outdid yourself didn't you, un?" He said as he grinned up at her. She grinned back, but it was wiped off when he suddenly poofed away; it was just a clone. She stood up straight then and looked over to the side where the real Deidara was, and his grin was there still.

"Good job, un! That was a pretty nice move you did there, Hikari-chan." He praised nonetheless, so she smiled and nodded. Sasori, no longer in his puppet came over and gave a nod of approval himself.

"Yes, you seem to be improving your skills." He admitted and then looked up at the burning sun.

"Hm, I was going to add another part to this training, but I think you've earned the rest of the day off." Hearing that she gasped and came over, hugging him in excitement.

"Thank you senpai!" Deidara couldn't help but laugh as Sasori's expression showed a mixture of shock and irritation. He pulled away from her and cleared his throat.

"Don't make me regret doing this, brat." He grumbled before shaking his head.

"Anyway, I have to fix my puppet's tail that _someone_ cut." He added in, narrowing his eyes a bit at her. She blinked before giving one of her famous pouts, frowning a bit.

"M'sorry senpai, it was the only thing I was able to think of at that moment." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Forget it, at least you're advancing. Now let's head back before I regret giving you so much liberty." He said as he started walking back. Deidara and Hikari looked at each other before exchanging grins and walking after him.

* * *

"Hikari-chan! How was training?" Asked Tobi as he came bouncing up to her when she and the two artists arrived back inside the lair. Deidara instantly narrowed his eyes at the orange masked boy.

"Quit jumping around like a hyper brat Tobi, hm!" He scolded while Sasori ignored them and went off to his room to make repairs to his puppet.

"It was fine Tobi-chan, I did good, didn't I?" She looked to Deidara who nodded in confirmation.

"Yay! Maybe soon you can become a subordinate like me!" Tobi said in all his cheeriness. Deidara tried not to frown at that thought. Sure, he knew that was probably the next step for Hikari after she advanced enough on her training, but still the thought of having her be put through actual danger, or any danger at all didn't sit well with him.

'God, why am I being so touchy about this? It's not like she'll be in as much risk as the rest of us. At least as a subordinate the chances of getting killed is less, hm.' He thought, reassuring himself that way for the time being.

"Ah, Hikari-chan, how about we bake some cookies to celebrate your awesome butt-kicking of Deidara-senpai?" Tobi suggested. That comment caused a laugh from her, but a glare from the blond.

"I swear you better get out of my sight now before I stuff my fist down your throat, un!" Deidara threatened. To that, Tobi blew a muffled raspberry at Deidara behind his mask. The blond made to launch at him, but Tobi yelped and hid behind Hikari.

"Hey, don't use her as a shield, take it like a man!" He huffed. Hikari sweatdropped before turning and urging Tobi along.

"Alright then, let's go make those cookies Tobi, before Deidara-senpai really does kill you." He made no objections and went off with the young woman. Deidara stood there watching them go off, still glaring at the back of the hyper boy's head even after they disappeared into the hall.

'That damn bastard, I swear he has as much contact with Hikari as any of us! Ugh, why do I feel so irritated about that?' The blond heaved a sigh and went off to his room to take a shower, hoping it would help him cool his head off.

* * *

"According to Sasori, Hikari's progress seems to be coming along well. The girl does have a knack for taijutsu." Zetsu said as he had morphed into Pein's office. The leader nodded and for a moment stayed motionless in thought.

'Perhaps soon she'll be ready to take on missions.' He then looked back to the plant man.

"Good, after she's done perfecting her skills, she'll be able to aid the organization." He said and straightened up a bit more on his chair. He was eager to test her in the outside world, especially after he heard about her unique ability of changing her hair into blades from Itachi and Kisame; that was something he thought would come off as very useful in the future. However, he had enough patience to wait until she was fully prepared, or else he might send her to an early grave at this point.

"What about her relationship with those two? Do you think Sasori and Deidara will keep indifferent to their…_favorable_ attitude towards her?" The black Zetsu asked him. Now that was a subject Pein did not want to hear about, and he hoped he had made himself clear enough to the two artists that he didn't want any special bondage between them and the girl that could lead to trouble later on.

"For now I'll give them the benefit of a doubt. They should be competent enough not to let their emotions get the best of them." He said and then gave curt nod in Zetsu's direction.

"That is all, you may go." Without a word, the plant man morphed away through the wall, leaving Pein to his thoughts once again.

'If the worst happens, I'll have no choice but to take matters into my own hands.' He stared at the stack of papers in front of him and almost gave a comical sigh to break the serious mood he was taking on with this.

'I feel like a hypocrite, but I know how to control myself. Hikari just recently ventured into adulthood –by accident- and knows nothing of the world and how harsh it can be…no, I have to keep her from exploring too far.' Decidedly, the leader of the Akatsuki then set to work on filling out the papers that lay before him, a small tinge of annoyance striking as he already felt his hand start to cramp again.

* * *

"It's ready!" Tobi announce as he heard a ding from the timer on the stove. Hikari walked over and opened the oven, both of them peering inside at the cookies they had just baked. The smell it was giving off was so pleasant, that it was safe to assume it tasted just as good.

"Alright, let's take these out then." She said as she put on some oven mitts and grabbed the hot metal plate, pulling it out and then setting it on the counter.

"Mmm, smells so good Hikari-chan! This might be our best batch yet." He said gleefully. Hikari smiled and nodded.

"I think so too Tobi-chan. Let's let it cool down for a few minutes now." She said and the two sat down at the table. Tobi hummed for a few seconds before looking straight at her.

"Hikari-chan, I have a question." She blinked and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what is it?" He fumbled with the hem of the cream colored apron he was wearing, before finally spitting it out.

"Do you like Deidara-senpai, or Sasori-senpai?" It didn't take too long for her to answer that.

"Of course I do! Just as I like you, Tobi-chan." He sighed, almost in frustration as he shook his head at her.

"No no, I mean **LIKE** like, y'know?" Hikari cocked her head to the side, then her eyes widened and her face flushed a little when she realized what he meant.

"O-Oh well…I don't know about that Tobi-chan." She said, looking elsewhere. She had before thought that she might feel that way about Deidara, but after the lecture she got from Sasori and the conversation she shared with Itachi she wasn't so sure. She read Konan's erotic book, but among so much smutt going on she couldn't distinguish any genuine description of how it felt like to fall in love.

"Oh come on, you can tell me; I won't say it to anyone I promise!" He said, edging her on to confide in him, but the girl shook her head.

"I told you Tobi, I'm not sure about these things." She said. The orange-masked boy made a sound that was almost manageable to envision him pouting as well, and before he could open his mouth to say something, Hidan came right in.

"What's this smell?" He asked, before his eyes landed on the cookies at the counter, and he got a wide grin on his face.

"Damn straight, cookies!" He made to grab for them, but before he even reached it, Hikari had crossed his path and wagged her finger right at his face.

"Not so fast Hidan-san. They're still hot and you might burn your tongue." She said. For a moment the Jashinist just stood there, staring at her with a skeptical look, but then he rolled his eyes.

"Fuck that, I'm fucking hungry!" He said and made a grab for it under her arm.

"Wait Hida-" It was too late. The slick haired man barely registered the hot feeling of the cookie in his hand on time before he had already stuffed it into his mouth. With his mouth full, he gave her a smug look, but it didn't last more than a second before his eyes widened and his face got red.

"Gah, hoth!" He gasped out and quickly attacked the fridge for something cool to drink. He grabbed the first liquid thing he saw and downed it down. It helped cool off the heat, but he was left with a sodden, half chewed cookie in his mouth and beneath it a burnt tongue. He panted and looked at Tobi who had burst into a fit of laughter, while Hikari tried hard to keep hers in.

"Shuth upth Futhing Thobi!" He grumbled, before chewing the rest of the cookie and swallowing it. Tobi ignored him completely as he was now rolling on the floor, holding his sides.

"I said shut up, damnit!" Hidan growled and made to get some hits at the boy, before he suddenly froze. His face started turning a pale green color, and he felt nauseous.

"W-What the hell?" He groaned before looking at the content from which he drank from. It would've been an ordinary carton of milk, had it not been for the fact that it had been expired for more than two weeks now. Dropping it, his eyes widened and he quickly covered up his mouth before running off. Hikari really couldn't help it this time and let herself get in a couple of laughs after he bolted to spill his guts out.

"O-Oh god my s-sides!" Tobi said, then settled down and tried to catch his breath. Hikari shook her head and got out a mop to clean up the puddle of expired milk on the floor. Once done with that, she got out a jar and began to place the cookies inside once she felt they had cooled enough.

"There, we can eat these after supper." She said, hearing a groan from Tobi.

"Naw, but I wanted one now~" He whined and Hikari shook her head.

"You can wait a few hours, come on." She untied her apron and placed it on the hanger at the wall; Tobi did the same in a solemn pose. She turned him and lightly pushed him out of the kitchen as she also exited. Tobi kept protesting, but he finally stopped after he saw she wasn't going to give in.

"Oh fine, but Hikari-chan you have to play with me then!" He said, to which she smiled and nodded.

"Okay, I'll play with you for a bit." That put him in a jolly mood again, and so the two ventured off to engage in some major hide and seek around the hideout.

* * *

"I don't get it…who ate all the cookies?" Hikari mumbled after coming back an hour later to find the jar completely empty.

"Who ate what?" Kisame asked as he came in. She looked over to him and pointed to the jar.

"I had just baked a bunch of cookies a while ago, but now they're gone." She said. The shark man could not help but chuckle.

"I guess that saying 'who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?' really fits right now, huh?" She gave a slight pout before crossing her arms.

"Maybe it was Tobi, he was so eager to eat them I think he might've come after playing hide and seek with me…or during it." She mumbled as she thought about it.

"Don't hang around him too much or you might just catch his disease." He told her, earning a questioning look from the girl.

"What disease?" She asked now, and he flashed her a grin, showing his extremely sharp teeth.

"The disease of stupidity and childishness, of course." He laughed a bit and then grabbed some water for himself. Hikari shook her head before heading out to find Tobi. She came up to his room and knocked.

"Tobi-chan? Are you in there?" There was no response. She sighed and continued to search for him around the hideout, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

'Well, that sure adds to him being the likely culprit.' She thought, almost certain of it. She decided to wait until supper to see if he'd show up, and then she'd ask him about it.

* * *

Supper was fairly simple, made by Hikari with occasional help from Konan. The members that were in the hideout at that time came down to eat the prepared stew, accompanied by some rice balls and tofu. It was rare to have a meal prepared for everyone; usually it was up to each member to get his own food. However, Hikari wanted to break that little tradition and asked Konan to give her a hand on it. So, when the members were called down to eat, they were of course surprised, but nonetheless grateful to not have to go out or try their hands at cooking; most of them were not so good at it.

"Hm, Tobi didn't come." Hikari mumbled. She had hoped that her friend would show up so she could question him about the cookies.

"Well then, makes him all the more guilty doesn't it?" Kisame said from beside her. She gave a shrug, but it was likely so.

"What about that brat?" Sasori asked, feeling his curiosity pique a little.

"Well, earlier today I made cookies with Tobi, but later when I came back to check they were all gone." She explained after taking a sip of her tea. Sasori shook his head.

"I don't doubt it was him, that kid likes to steal things sometimes." He said, a hint of bitterness in his tone. Deidara, who would always find any opportunity to criticize the subordinate member, didn't say anything about it as he ate his food.

"Oh well, I guess I'll just ask him whenever I see him again." She figured. At that, Deidara finally looked up.

"I'd be glad if that bastard shoved himself in some place he can't get out of. At least it'll give me some time of peace for once, un." Hikari looked over at him.

"Why do you hate Tobi so much, senpai?" He gave her an incredulous look.

"And you have to ask? He's annoying as hell, hm! And I'm not the only one who thinks that either, I'm sure of it." Some, if not all the members could totally vouch for that.

"Well, he's nice to me…a little hyper, but still." Sasori gave a sigh at her.

"You're too gullible Hikari. I'm surprised someone like Tobi even managed to last this long in Akatsuki, with the way he is…he has a _gift_ for getting himself into trouble here...imagine out there." She had no counterargument to offer to that.

After everyone was done with their meal, they returned to their rooms or whatever business they were doing before. Konan went to take a tray up to Pein's office, seeing as he hadn't showed up, while Hikari stayed back to clean. Itachi had surprisingly cleaned his own dishes before he left, so that was a little less work for her.

'I almost seem like a housewife or something.' She thought humorously. She then spent a short amount of time contemplating on how silly and naïve she had been before, when she first turned from a baby into a full grown woman; at least she hoped she wasn't as naïve as before. After being done with cleaning, she headed off to her room.

* * *

Deidara got up to his room and relaxed in his bed after having supper.

'If Hikari decides to make a habit out of this I won't complain one bit, hm.' He thought, closing his eyes before reaching under his pillow and pulling out a small bag. He put it on top of his stomach and a smile crept to his face as he took out a cookie from inside it.

'It's a good thing she thinks Tobi stole them all, makes me less guilty of having snatched them for myself, hm.' He took a bite out of it and savored the taste.

"Mmm, she could be a great baker, that's for sure." He mumbled, taking another bite and chewing on it. Then, a bang came from somewhere in the room.

"Senpai, please let me out!" Tobi called out, more bangs following after from the closet. Smirking, Deidara ignored the boy's plea for him to let him out.

"Heh, that's what you get for making that smartass comment earlier, hm." He said, all smug as he continued to eat the batch of cookies while the poor orange masked boy pounded against the closet door, to no avail.


	10. Birthday Surprise

**Hey guys! I'm soo sorry it took so long to upload another chapter, ugh I feel so bad! :( But juggling school work and writer's block ain't an easy task. But fear not! Now that I'm done with my first year of College, I'm sure (or hope) I'll be able to make more frequent uploads :) Keepin' positive here! As usual, R&R please and I hope you enjoy this lil' chapter :D**

* * *

"Da da da da~" Tobi sang off key as he smeared some strawberry jelly on a toast. He had some bits of it smudged on his mask as he was making a complete mess out of such a simple snack.

"This looks yummy!" He chimed after piling a load of jelly on two toasts. He tried to balance all the gooey substance as he brought one toast up to his mask, detaching the bottom part of it before eating the whole thing in one bite. Humming with satisfaction, he repeated the act with the other toast.

"Mm~"

Right as he lowered his mask again, Deidara came in, but instantly paused and raised an eyebrow at the kid's jelly coated mask.

" The hell do you have on your fac-err mask, dimwit?" He sneered, catching himself halfway before going over to the fridge.

"It's jelly senpai!" Tobi cheerfully replied, not bothered at all by the blond's choice of insult for him. He was Tobi, after all.

"You want some, senpai?" He asked, earning a snort from him in return.

"No, especially not from _you_, un." He shut the fridge door as he brought out a gallon of milk in hand, and now began to search the cupboard for a cup. Tobi watched him while slightly bouncing on his heels. He couldn't stay still for too long, and Deidara had soon discovered that to be a huge pet peeve of his.

"Stop doing that, damnit." He grumbled, frowning as he didn't find any clean cups. He looked in the sink and there they were, the entire set of cups together, dirtied up from the previous user.

"Ugh, why don't people clean up after themselves around here?" He questioned, feeling irritable. He hated cleaning up after someone else, let alone those that lived in the hideout.

"Bunch of pigs, hm." Despite that, he went over and grabbed a semi-clean one, and began to rinse out whatever was in it before scrubbing some soap in there for good measure.

"Senpai, do you know what today is?" The masked boy suddenly asked. The blond had to strain himself from shooting him a very usual glare.

"What day is it?" He asked in through gritted teeth, rather exaggerated too.

"It's Hikari-chan's birthday!" Pausing, Deidara looked back at him.

"Tobi, we don't even know when she was born. How can you say today is her birthday, un?"

"Exactly, senpai! Because we don't know it, and she doesn't know it, we should make today her birthday!" He said, fist pumping the air. That only made Deidara's eye twitch.

"And who said you could decide something like that, hm?" Tobi paused, then shrugged. Deidara just turned away from him. The thought still lingered in his mind, however.

'Hikari's birthday…she doesn't have one, or at least we don't know it. Should we really decide on a date to celebrate it, un?' With that in mind, he finished cleaning the cup.

* * *

"Dana?" He blond called after a good while of silence between the two artists and their work. Sasori grunted as he smoothed out one of his puppets' arms with sandpaper.

"What?" He finally replied. The blond took a minute to continue on.

"What do you think about having a birthday party for Hikari? I mean, none of us know when she was born so…why not just celebrate it one day, hm?" At that, the puppet master actually stopped and looked at him.

"What's this now? We don't even celebrate our own birthdays, yet you want to throw her a party?" Deidara shrugged at that.

"I know, but Hikari's special…she's not like us. If anyone deserves something like that it's definitely her, un." Sasori stared at him, pondering at the same time on the things he was saying.

"It's somewhat true…she didn't choose to be with us, it just…happened. But does that really mean you have to throw her a birthday party? That sounds childish, and I doubt Pein would agree to it."

"Oh, right…Pein." The blond muttered, completely forgetting about their leader, and the scolding both received when that kiss incident happened between him and Hikari.

"So, if you don't want to get in trouble again, I suggest you throw that idea out the window." The redhead returned to his work then, but the blond remained still as he thought about it all. Would it really be so bad to do a little something for the girl? Would Pein _really _be overly bothered by it? He only said not to talk about love and relationship stuff. This was completely different, right?

'Nah, Dana's being paranoid, un.' He nodded his head as his final decision was made and he returned to molding his clay.

* * *

*2 days later*

"Hikari-chan, come here for a second!" Tobi said as he grabbed hold of the woman's arm, startling her a little.

"What? But, where-" She was cut off as he dragged her away from her room. He stopped when he got to the kitchen. Hikari blinked a few times and looked at him. Tobi 'grinned' and opened his arms wide.

"Happy Birthday!" He said, then pointed excitedly to a sloppy looking cake that was on the table.

"My…birthday is today?" She questioned, even more confused at this surprise.

"Well, no…I don't know when it is so I just thought it could be today. D'you like it? Were you surprised, huh?" He asked, bouncing up and down. The girl stared at him, then at the cake and back at him again. A smile soon formed on her face and she hugged him.

"Thanks Tobi-chan." He froze in place, then gladly returned the hug.

"Ahaha, no problem~!" His happiness ended when someone pried him away from her and smacked him upside down.

"What the hell Tobi! I told you to wait until everything was ready damnit, un!" A furious Deidara said, glaring holes into his mask. Tobi quickly made rapid swiping motions with his hands.

"A-Ah senpai! Don't kill me I just, I just couldn't wait anymore!" That only made the blond madder. He was about to give the childish member a beating to remember, but he reluctantly restrained this impulse and sighed.

"I'll never trust you with something like this again….I don't even know _why _I even did in the first place, hm." He then turned to Hikari, who looked a little bewildered still.

"Well, it's ruined now but.. happy birthday Hikari." He took something out of his cloak and handed it over to her.

"For me?" She said, taking the little wrapped up present.

"Well, you know, it's nothing special, just a little something," He coughed a bit as his cheeks tinted a light pink.

"I know you've been through some rough ends ever since you came to this hideout. With the idiot Tobi spilling that potion on you and making you grow up too fast into the woman you are today. Having to deal with Pein-sama's training crap, and all of us members being a bad influence, un." He half joked. Hikari smiled and gave the blond a hug.

"Even with all that, I'm happy how things are." Deidara blinked, and his face got a little redder when she hugged him and said such a thing. Damnit, how can he look at her innocently now? The blond held tightly to her as he felt his heart beating fast.

"Hikari, I.." He started off, but just as he did with Tobi, he was yanked away from Hikari by none other than his partner, who was not pleased at all.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, brat?" He growled. Deidara looked shocked for a moment, but then pulled away from his grip and huffed.

"What does it look like, un?" Sasori looked around and spotted the cake, then the present Hikari held in her hands. He sighed and shook his head.

"Did you not hear me last time? I told you not to do this, but you just ignored it like the brat you are and did it anyway." Deidara rolled his eyes.

"I don't see what's the big deal, dana. This is purely innocent." He justified, despite his inner feelings being deeper than his words. He narrowed is eyes at him, then looked back at Hikari. She stared at him, cocking her head slightly to the side; poor girl had to be in the middle of all the mess they did.

'Why are you overreacting like this? It's really nothing much.' Sasori thought, before walking up to the girl, stopping short in front of her.

"Well then…happy birthday I guess." He muttered awkwardly. Tobi cheered and Deidara grinned at his partner's soft side coming out. The four then cut up the cake after Hikari blew the only candle on it.

"Did you make a wish? Did you? What was it, huh?" Tobi asked, before being hit on the head by Deidara.

"Stop being a nuisance, hm! Besides, she can't tell you what she wished for or else it won't come true." Sasori scoffed at that.

"You still believe in that myth? So childish." He earned a glare from his partner.

"Oh shut up, dana. It's as much a myth as your stupid way of viewing art, un!" That got the redhead boiling up and he was about to get into one of their artistic mash ups when Itachi and Kisame entered the kitchen, and paused as they took in the scene before them.

"Are we celebrating something that I don't know of?" Kisame asked with his shark grin. Tobi was the first to confirm that.

"Yep, Hikari-chan's birthday!" At that, Itachi looked at her. She only gave a slight shrug and continued to eat her piece of cake.

"Hikari's birthday? I didn't know we knew when it was…"

"We don't, but the brats decided to make it today anyway." Sasori clarified. Kisame nodded, before he went on ahead and got a piece of cake himself, muttering a halfhearted happy birthday to the girl. Who could pass up free cake? Meanwhile, Itachi was still staring at her, and how she interacted with the group. Had she made such a great influence on them? Before they behaved as criminals of a secret organization should: always cold, always on missions, always obeying orders, always keeping to themselves and not doing anything unusual. But now that Hikari was part of their lives, said criminals became more of a dysfunctional family. Interactions between them were more often than before, despite most of them being rather annoying.

'Hikari, I don't think you know just how much you're affecting us….me.' With a last look, Itachi turned and headed out of the kitchen.

* * *

Night fell, and Hikari got herself ready to bed, when she saw the small present Deidara had given to her earlier on her bed. Curious to know what he got her, she walked over and sat down, picking it up and starting to unwrap it. Bit by bit it was revealed to be a clay sculpture of a flower. Not just any flower though, a water-lily. She carefully picked it up from the wrappings and held it close to her face. It had no color painted on it as one would expect, it was just plain dried clay with some glaze over it. However, it was just as delicate and beautiful to her.

'Thanks Dei-chan.' She thought as another smile surfaced. Putting the little sculpture on her nightstand, she drew back the covers and got in. Having a birthday surprise like that really caught her off guard. Despite that, she was really thankful to Tobi and Deidara for being so kind as to set that up for her. She didn't care if she didn't know when her real birthday was, all that mattered was that they cared enough to celebrate it whenever. Even Sasori, although he didn't look enthusiastic about the duo's little plan, seemed less grumpy and more open.

'They're all wonderful in their own little way. I can't think of life without them.' She thought, closing her eyes as sleep eventually took her.


	11. Sleepless Night

**Alrighty loves, here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it :D R&R Pretty please!**

* * *

Sighing, Deidara looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand; it read 3:00 AM.

'Goddamn, why can't I sleep?' Despite that thought, he knew full well why he couldn't. Hikari has been on his mind ever since he and Tobi had thrown that small surprise birthday party for her nearly a week ago.

'If you could even call that a party, so lame.' He shook his head and turned on his side…then rolled to the other…then on his belly, followed by on his back. It was like a game of toss and turn, and it irritated him to no end.

'I can't take this!' Finally, he threw off the covers and stood up, completely giving up on trying to get some hours of sleep. But why now? Why was it bothering him _now_, and not before like, when Hikari kissed him? Sure, he had some troublesome thoughts then, but it hadn't made him lose sleep over it.

"Maybe some milk will do me good. Yeah I can try for that, hm." Dei muttered and made way downstairs. Since everything was dark, he had tripped, or stumbled, or done both on several occasions during his journey to the kitchen. Cursing under his breath after a near close face plant with the ground, he dragged his tired body to the fridge and opened the door, the little orange bulb of light inside instantly coming on. The cool breeze in there made a shirtless Deidara shiver, so he quickly grabbed the carton of milk and shut the door.

'Should I check for the expiration date?' He pondered, but after a second thought he decided he didn't want to open the fridge door to use the light in there and face the cold a second time, then a third time when he had to put the milk away; he also felt mighty lazy to walk all the way over to the doorway just to flip the switch on.

'Ah screw it.' He said and drank right from the box. He didn't feel any weird taste, so assumed it was safe enough to keep drinking it without the worry of later have an upset stomach.

"Dei-san?" A voice suddenly called out, causing him to let the milk go through the wrong pipe as he breathed, and so issued a messy squirting through the nose, then a series of coughs and wheezes.

"Are you okay?" Hikari asked, approaching the blond as he tried to recompose himself in the midst of this embarrassing moment.

'God kill me now…' He thought. Humiliation took over, and oh, how he **hated** when that happened.

"F-Fine, I'm fine, un." He managed to say, wiping his nose and mouth with his arm. He then turned to the girl, and now that his eyes had gotten used to the darkness, he noticed her wearing what he figured to be one of Konan's less revealing nightgowns. Hikari blinked a couple of times.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" She proceeded to ask. The blond, opening and closing his mouth, almost let the actual reason slip out.

"I err…I could ask you the same question, hm." He crossed his arms and tried to act all cool and authoritative, slightly imitating his up-tight partner.

"Ah well, I couldn't sleep, so I came down to get something to drink, see if that would help." She eyed the carton of milk, now completely empty.

"Seems like we had the same idea then, hm. You know I hear tea's real good to have when you're trying to go to sleep." He said, trying to mask the obvious fact he had drank it all by himself. Nodding, she started to look through the cupboards for any little tea packs that may be left. Meanwhile, Deidara grabbed a rag near the sink and started to clean up the milky meson the counter.

'Ugh, as if losing sleep over her wasn't enough that _had_ to happen right as _she_ walks in. Karma must really hate me or something.' He thought with a sweatdrop.

"Oh that reminds me," She suddenly said, glancing back to him. "I haven't gotten a chance to thank you for the gift you gave me." Deidara and Sasori had been sent off on a mission the morning after Hikari's birthday, and they hadn't returned until the day before yesterday. Still, despite the distance the blond artist had already been losing hours of sleep.

"Oh, it wasn't anything special—of course my art is _always_ magnificent and meant to be appreciated by everyone, and most beautiful when blown to pieces….but I figured you'd like to keep something that was non-explosive, un." He finished lamely, mentally socking himself. Was there really any need to add his usual art speech that late at night?

'She's probably sick of hearing about it all the time.' He thought, sighing a little.

"But still, thank you. I really like it, and it's certainly beautiful…were it meant to explode or not." She added at the end, unsure if her comment held any insult to his artistic viewpoint or not. But you could never be too safe. At that, the blond grinned.

"Well, glad you liked it, hm. Means it won't go to waste, hopefully." He joked, setting the soaked up rag in the sink, not even bothering to rinse it; he wasn't down for that, let someone else do it! Smiling herself, she returned to searching around for the tea pack, and finally spotted one, but was at the highest shelf.

'Of course.' She thought, and stood on her tippy toes to try and reach it, but she was still a few inches short of touching it. Seeing her struggle, Deidara came up behind her and his hand easily made a grab for it. He then held it down to her front.

"Ah, thanks!" She beamed, taking from his hands. But that fell on deaf ears, as the oddly sweet scent of her hair struck his nose, it being set right on top of her head at the moment.

"Uh huh…" He muttered, his eyelids closing a moment to breathe in her scent once more. Was that honeysuckle or some kind of flowery perfume? Whatever it was, he found it intoxicating.

'Why does she have to do this to me? As she doesn't even realize it, that's the sad part.' He thought. At that moment, Hikari turned around, only to freeze on the stop as she almost ran right into his bare chest. Deidara had not moved from his spot, but he was now looking down at her with a dazed look in his eyes. That puzzled Hikari.

"Um, Dei? Is something…wrong?" She hesitantly asked. The blond didn't respond, only began to lean down toward her face. Her eyes began to grow as he inched closer, and she began to draw back. What had gotten into him all of a sudden? She was completely bewildered.

"Dei-san what are you-" She slightly gasped when the man abruptly grasped her waist and pressed her body to his. She could feel his well toned body very much now.

"Hikari, just this time, don't think about anything. Just this time, let this happen…you can forget about it later, hm." He spoke softly, before finally capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. So shocked she was, her hands let go of the tea pack, it falling to the ground and sliding off slightly. Deidara fully closed his eyes, deepening the kiss, hoping to god he wasn't making a fool out of himself with this rushed impulse. Hikari remained motionless for the first minute, her cheeks burning red, but her arms eventually found their way around his neck and her lips moved against his, returning the kiss. Her acceptance elated him; he could barely believe she was responding to him so quickly! It had been a bold move, yes…he or they both would probably regret it later, but who cared? It was that moment that counted right now. Just that moment in which he let his feelings speak louder than his mind. His heart was beating so fast he felt it could explode; and what a wonderful feeling that was.

* * *

Hikari returned to her room, tealess, as there had been no motivation to continue in the making of it after what happened. She flopped down on her bed and rolled over on her back, staring at the ceiling as her fingers lightly traced her lips.

'I can't believe he kissed me…I can't believe I kissed him back.' She could still feel the pressure of his mouth on hers, still taste him. Her heart was still beating fast even now, her cheeks were still flushed, and though she couldn't see it she felt the warmth of her face.

But was it alright to happen?

Shaking her head, she decided not to think about it for now and just relish in the moment that took place minutes ago. A thought came to mind, a thought she did not quite know the answer to yet.

'Could it be? Do I like Deidara?' With that kiss, her feelings and emotions began to mix. What would happen from thereon?

* * *

Deidara could not stop grinning to himself. What was he thinking? He wasn't thinking, that's what! Took a hell of a lot of guts to just do that. However, now it felt as if a heavy boulder had been lifted off of him, and he felt as if he could soar.

'I did it…I kissed her. Damn it felt good!' He thought, feeling as giddy as a schoolgirl, but of course he was too manly to actually act on it. But if he wasn't he would've. Heaving a sigh of content, he closed his eyes and turned on his side. Her smell still lingered in his nostrils, and her taste was felt every time he licked his lips. It was just as sweet as her scent. Usually Deidara wasn't much of a sweet person, but if the sweet comes from a woman like Hikari, he could be easily converted to being a sweetaholic or something. Somehow, he felt he could never grow sick of anything that had to do with her, he did. There were no concrete explanations as to how or why he suddenly began to feel such feelings for her, not that he could think of anyway. Perhaps that one kiss had triggered something, but it couldn't have just been that; he knew it had to be more. With all those months Hikari had spent in Akatsuki, from being a mere baby, to being subject to a horrible experimental potion mishandled by the stupidest member Akatsuki had (though not an actual casualty in the end), and turning into a full grown woman way too early, and going through a range of personalities, and having to learn how to act right or else Pein would most likely get pissed at the lack of progression. In all that something must've happened to cause him this sudden infatuation with her.

Sasori had tried to come up with an antidote of sorts, but the leader had dismissed that now that he saw potential in Hikari, something some of the members, mostly Sasori and Deidara, were still weary of. Either way, after all they had been through, he could extrapolate the fact of how Hikari came to eventually mature really made the blond see her in another light. Was it wrong? Maybe. Would Pein kill him if he found out? He wouldn't put it past him, but what the hell? All that mattered was that he had taken the first step, and though he said she could forget about it later, he really hoped she wouldn't, and seeing as she had kissed back he felt some confidence that she wouldn't just brush it off.

'I hope it works out, somehow…' He thought, as he began to drift off to sleep, the insomnia period having finally ended at that point.


End file.
